


Three steps towards immortality

by Schatten_Und_Licht



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Flashbacks, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Missing Scene, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 11:57:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12365259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schatten_Und_Licht/pseuds/Schatten_Und_Licht
Summary: My prince,thought Agni,how can I thank you for having taught me to feel life again?Soma really wants to become a great man who will change the course of history and help the whole vast world get better. But sometimes it seems to him that he wants to do it only to see the sparkle in the silver eyes and hear the velvet voice: "I'm proud of you, my prince."





	1. Chapter 1. Silver and Gold

**Author's Note:**

> • This trial to make a brief description ot these amazing characters’ relationship appeared to be... not brief at all. But I can correct everything that's extra, just tell me! 
> 
> • Very much fluff. I mean – VERY. In light of the recent arc's events, I guess, it is vital to get some fluff... but anyway I can fix all that’s unnecessary.
> 
> • English is my second language, therefore please, please, PLEASE let me know about all of my mistakes and I’ll fix them! (I really need a beta reader... I’m serious, huh)

His master loves gold.

He likes to watch how it gleams in the midday sun, which illuminates his spacious chambers. He likes to laugh in response to his own reflection in the sparkling surface of a thin ringlet or a massive necklace – so small and funny. The entire Prince Soma’s huge treasury has at least a hundred jewels made of pure gold, for which his home country of India is so well-known. Every single day for the royal youth begins with dressing in luxurious, catchy clothes, and decorating himself with the brilliance of a wide amount of elegant jewelry. His faithful Agni can’t help but freeze in adoration, admiring the radiance of the God came down from heaven.

Being the most precious among the earth metals, forming the purest of alloys and shining brightly, gold perfectly suits his prince – the embodiment of all the Earth’s treasures for the servant who stands behind him modestly. And when the prince wears his everyday outfit, including gold jewelry, and goes out on the sun-drenched balcony to perform his morning meditation, Agni has no doubt in the divine origin of his master. His smile becomes even more brightly when he rushes towards Agni or Meena enthusiastically, to tell them another picturesque dream he has seen. His dreams are dynamic and bright, just like the prince himself; there were no heroes and villains, but the whole world – colorful, lively and full of friends. Listening to each story told by his master, Agni cannot help but admit that he has an incredibly rich imagination.

He desperately tries to rush away from his loneliness, clinging eagerly to any opportunity to get some attention.

There is no need for prince to win Agni’s attention. Just because he had always had it. Ah, if only it were possible for Agni to melt away at least a small part of his worries!

Nobody but his prince could so selflessly enjoy his every new day, every smile he received, every ray of sunlight that was sent from heaven. But gods – in all their cruelty – blessed him in one more skill – instantly, just like the sun hides behind the clouds, this bright smile suddenly disappears from prince’s face.

"Why does Meena always leave when I ask her to walk with me?" – asks Soma sadly, putting his head down during his walk in the garden with Agni. The latter, modestly walking behind the master's back and not daring to pick up the pace to walk with him side by side, forced himself to smile. He knew the answer. But the prince will be calmer if he never understands this truth.

"She has a lot of household chores, Master Soma." Agni had already learned not to show a single sign of pain that always appeared then he had thought about his prince’s sorrow.

"But you have them as well..."

Yes. And not to let you stay in your loneliness is the most important among them.

"Today is less than usual," smiling, Agni bowed his head, although Soma didn’t see him. "After our walk, I will certainly help her".

Soma abruptly stopped in the middle of the road. After a few seconds, he turned around and looked at Agni confused.

"But after that we'll of course go downtown to the festival of lights?! You’ve promised, Agni!"

Agni calculated in his mind what part of the domestic duties he has to put off until late in the evening or even night, and immediately gave the answer:

"Of course, my prince. At any time of the day or night, I am absolutely at your service." 

Lifting his head proudly, Soma smiled contentedly. A heavy gold necklace around his neck was shining blindingly, reflecting the bright sunlight.

Gold is really very beautiful.

Although for Agni it is not even comparable with the sparks of happiness in the golden eyes of his prince.

***

His master has a heart of gold.

Deceitful from the inside, rotten in its very essence, life in the palace just passes by the prince. Like a snow-white lotus in the middle of a muddy swamp, he blossoms in this vicious mud of court conspiracies and interminable hypocrisy, while his soul remains crystal clear. Agni doesn’t understand how his prince does it – that's why he so zealously guards him from the evil influence of his elder brothers, from the nobles’ duplicity, from the lies and manipulations of British officials, which have already subdued his father and the eldest princes.

But much more zealously Agni tries to protect his master from him.

Warming up in the rays of his only sun, Agni forbids himself to get too close to him, in order not to dim or, God forbid, extinguish his radiance. Those things, which Arshad used to destroy, laughing, the same things Agni passionately yearned to save.

He doesn’t hold back his fold tears when Soma, with touching care, tapes up the wounded paw of baby tiger. The little one, apparently, had been trying to break away, as had been apparent from a fresh scratch on the prince's cheek; the latter, however, hasn’t paid any attention to it.

"Look, Agni!" The young man called after his servant cheerfully. He was smiling broadly, and mischievous sparkles were dancing in his eyes. "This silly couldn’t take a step when I found him. But now he’ll be able to run again, right?"

Agni agrees without question and praises the magnanimity of his master. However, later he has to chase around the entire yard for the agile big kitten, to re-bandage his paw – after all, the prince, of course, could not know how to bandage properly, and little cub simply got confused in the bandages.

After a couple of weeks, they both play with the recovered and a little bit grown tiger cub, and Agni can’t take his eyes off Soma, selflessly playing with his new four-legged friend.

"With this bandaged paw, he is so much like you, Agni," the prince drops, burying his face in the soft golden fur of his favorite pet.

Gold means nothing to Soma.

He easily hands over his golden ring, which costs like an entire house, to a simple ragged beggar with two small children. And puts a happy, carefree smile on his face, accepting gratitude that reflected in three pairs of glittering agate eyes. 

He doesn’t need gold. 

Because Agni knows: his master is entirely made out of gold. 

***

His master has always been shining from the inside with his overwhelming zest for life.

But sometimes there were moments when its radiance was fading.

In such moments, Soma usually climbes to the highest floor in the palace – sometimes even to the roof – and spend time thinking there for an hour, two or even half a day, until Agni shows up, after exploring every inch of the whole huge house in search of his easy-going master. Turning to him, the young man smiles with a forced, sad smile – you’ve wanted to see someone else instead of me, my prince?

After several cases like this, Agni realized that his young prince Soma just wanted to be found. To be searched for.

Except Agni, no one ever had been searching for him.

Realizing this and deeply suffering from the sight of his master's sadness, Agni swears to protect the prince not only from all the threats of the world outside, but from the loneliness that is eating him from the inside as well. There have been no cases when he hasn’t been kept the promise – but he makes it over and over again. Having managed with his anxiety, Agni usually smiles with the most benevolent smile, sits down next to his master and tells him some story or fable he has heard in his earliest childhood from the mother, who has gone from this world, unfortunately, too early. After listening to the end, the prince smiles and involves Agni in some funny game, or just ordinary catch-up, during which both of them running around the palace carelessly. Causing discontented exclamations after him, Soma just laughs in response. Agni always let his prince win in the game. Soma, to be honest, always knew this.

This, it turns out, his still young and fragile master was withering without attention, like a rare whimsical flower. Therefore, forgetting about the routine of domestic duties – just pleasant troubles for Agni, anyway – Agni completely devotes himself to his prince, not leaving him alone even for a minute. And he is afraid to believe his happiness, catching a fleeting glance of golden eyes, full of gratitude. After spending all day in carefree amusements – which are necessary for everyone from time to time – in the evening the prince starts yawning and nodding off, eventually falling asleep on the shoulder of his caring khansama.

Agni often asks himself what it was like for the prince, when he wasn’t there for him yet.

After putting his young master to bed, Agni usually goes to the market and buys for his prince some small golden trinkets, which, of course, will please the boy and – for sure – will perfectly suit his amber eyes. Considering himself unworthy to dare to give the present personally, he secretly puts them in Soma's box, and cannot help but smile happily whilst watching his prince enthusiastically discovering new clothes and trying them on before a huge mirror. Sometimes the prince bursts into good-natured laughter, and Agni's heart melts from its sound, warmed by the sunlight, and then the prince pins jewelry on his khansama. In response, Agni usually smiles affectionately, puts his hand to his heart in a respectful gesture, and says that gold suits his prince better.

Whereas Soma is trying to gather his strength to tell Agni that he loves silver more than anything else.

***

On that day, which unexpectedly became a turning point in his life, the fifteen-year-old prince haven’t think of anything else but his own entertainment and self-esteem. He liked the admiration of the people on the square who were absorbing every word of his pathetic speech over the pardoned criminal; he liked all the enthusiastic whisperings in the crowd, absorbing them with all the soul of a capricious teenager, who hadn’t ever seen anything other than condescending addressed to him. He just wanted to feel finally important, finally worthy of respect, like those of his older brothers, who had been gaining all the attention of their father and mother and who appeared to be better than him, Soma, only because they had been born earlier.

However, all the prince’s fake bravery immediately melts away as soon as he stands face to face with the man whom he brought to his palace. As he heard about his "deeds", Soma was afraid that the former criminal can easily take him down right here and now and run away. In fright, he hid behind the nearby column and, stuttering, suggested his new acquaintance to leave now, without harming him and his family.

The forgiven culprit, who was called Agni a quarter of an hour ago, initially he took this opportunity immediately. But, wishing to thank his savior for the last time, he looked up at the young man – and froze completely, unable to move. The timid look on the face of his valiant savior who was shyly looking out from his hiding place, touches him to the core. It was like silent, beautiful melody of the sitar was making its way through every cell of his body.

He can’t leave him.

He doesn’t even want to leave him.

Agni, who has immediately got used to his new name, felt an irresistible urge to protect this child, who, all of the sudden, was so touchingly fragile and innocent – and at the same time not losing a single drop of that stunning divinity, this very divinity that had overwhelmed the former culprit twenty minutes ago. Then Agni, for the first time of his own free will, dropped to his knees before his fifteen-year-old deity, and for the first time called him his master.

Never before has Soma felt as important as when he stepped out from behind the pillar and extended his hand to his new servant, who had looked at him with genuine reverence.

***

With time, young prince was becoming more and more convinced that he had taken on the service an extraordinary man. With his appearance alone, Agni was leaving an indelible impression on the domestic. His amazingly high growth and perfect posture set him apart from the other palace servants, and his snow-white hair and light grey eyes, so rare among people of their nationality, indicated him as a noble. Soma overheard someday that several of his brothers and sisters wanted to poach Agni into their servants, but he firmly – perhaps, for the representative of the lowest varna even too firmly – rejected their proposals. The more proud of himself was Soma: to have in his service the man who’s secretly admired by the whole palace, and who, despite this, is unconditionally loyal to him, and moreover, treats him like the descended god – what the honor for the twenty-sixth child, huh? 

However, it turned out that this was the end of the matter.

There was almost nothing that his new servant was able to do. 

There was no one like him at the martial arts, and all the people of the palace were watching his lessons for Soma with a sinking heart. But when it came to the daily chores, Agni was completely helpless – however, this should be expected from a former Brahmin, who had used to his servants doing all the things instead of him; and now he was a servant himself. Soma liked top class curry dishes and fresh homemade sweets – Agni didn’t even know the names of kitchen utensils. Soma liked when his hair was braided with a plenty of thin braids, with which it was so fun to play – Agni could barely make a ponytail out of his hair. Each part of the duties of khansama, which Soma hastily proclaimed Agni, caused only a panic on the servant's face. Actually, all these duties could be fulfilled by Meena quite well, but she complained about excessive business too often, especially when Soma had tried to drag her into some funny game.

Once, when he eventually lost his temper, Soma said mindlessly to the face of his new khansama that he’s absolutely no use. 

And at the same moment immediately came the fright, and the prince hastily covered his mouth with a palm, recognizing the same mocking phrase that the elder brothers often told him. Each time these words were spoken, he had been choking with such a suffocating pain that could have been healed only by half an hour of sobbing on Meena's knees, and by her thousandfold assurances that her Prince Soma, blessed by gods, was the most honorable and noble of all his royal siblings. From the very childhood, Soma knew that there was nothing more offensive than to be useless. His whole body was pierced by chilling terror.

"Agni!.." helplessly stretching forth his hand, the prince swallowed nervously. The expression of extreme misery, frozen on the face of his new servant, made Soma choke with his own excuses, which he had barely had time to think up. Hiding his trembling hands behind his back, Agni closed his eyes and bowed his head. Then he got down on one knee before the master and seemed to have something to say, but managed to squeeze out only a couple of helpless sobs. 

Agni hastily got back to his feet and, not daring to look up, ran out of the prince's quarters and disappeared into the endless palace corridors. Soma merely watched him leave. On the floor, exactly where his servant had just stood, his head down, remained a small scarlet spot, probably a drop of blood. Frightened and upset, Soma took a few steps back. For the first time, the young prince felt guilty.

For the rest of the day he had been wandering around the palace in search of Agni, but could not find him anywhere. By the nightfall the prince was absolutely certain that his servant was mortally offended and left him. 

"Don’t worry, Your Highness," Meena's melodious voice distracted him from his gloomy thoughts for a minute. "What happened, happened for the best," she smiled, serving the evening tea. Behind her good-natured smile, the servant skillfully hid a burning envy of a man who managed to get out of, as she was sure, unbearable slavery, but Soma, of course, wasn’t able to understand it yet. Giving his so-called "big sister" a broad and slightly sad smile, he gave her a strong, also slightly sad hug, before returning to his hard thinking. Meena bowed courteously and disappeared, whilst Soma, forgetting about tea, started developing an action plan for getting Agni back.

First, the prince wanted to equip his favorite elephant and go after Agni by himself. Then he decided that it would be better to go to his father and borrow a couple of dozens guards from him, so that it would be more convenient to browse the city in several directions at once. Then he decided for a couple of seconds that maybe he should just let Agni stay free – but then he immediately dismissed this thought, thinking that, firstly, he needs Agni too much. Secondly, Soma was sure that without him Agni would be lost. Thirdly, he still should (no, the princes are not supposed to apologize) say a few words to Agni, in order to make amends. By choosing a variant with the guardsmen, Soma excitedly jumped from the bed and, without further delay, hastily went to find his father. And – right in the doorway came face-to-face with his khansama.

"A... Agni!" Soma breathed out in a low voice, unable to squeeze out anything more. The servant was equally confused; guilt that was even stronger now than in the morning, felt in the sad curve of his eyebrows, and in the scared look in his eyes. He held a gilded tray, filled with pretty fragrant dishes – only because of that Soma didn’t throw himself at Agni. For just one second, he felt a strange, painful dependence on Agni – what if he didn’t come back? A similar kind of dependence – what if he doesn’t take me back? – was easy to read in Agni's eyes, full of unspoken regret. At this very moment, when the two men's eyes met, they seemed to share this state with each other. Then has been a long silence, during which both of them shared the same feeling – none of them really knew what it was called, but it was a feeling that everything finally fell into place. Harmony.

"Y-your Highness ..." Agni stammered, "I ... wouldn’t ever dare to apologize for my worthlessness, but ..." the tray in his hands shook faintly, "may I make it up to you, at least a little bit?" – shifting from foot to foot, he didn’t even dare to cross the threshold of the room. That very pitiful expression on his face was becoming even more miserable as Soma had remained standing still, stunned, blinking his eyes. 

Your worthlessness, Agni? My goodness. You, the one who used to be the most fearless person in the entire Calcutta some time ago, are trembling before the fifteen-year-old boy now. Was it I who had made you such a person?

Shaking his head, the prince threw off the rest of the stupor and stepped towards his khansama. The latter seemed to hold his breath, not knowing what to expect. Soma carefully picked up a tray from his hands, put it on the nearest horizontal surface – on the bed – and then... rushed to the servant with the delighted squeal. Agni gasped in shock, barely managing to stand on his feet – either from surprise, or from Soma's excessive pressure – and still forgetting to breathe.

"Hey, I thought we weren’t going to play hide-and-seek today!" Soma exclaimed cheerfully, squeezing Agni in his arms. "I'm never against playing, but next time you have to hide where I can find you!" pulling away from the shocked servant, he added, "And from that very day, never ever leave my side – at least without my knowledge!"

These words sounded sweet to Agni. Having collapsed to his master's feet, he uttered a familiar phrase, without which he couldn’t imagine his existence anymore.

"Jo Aagyaa. " 

Soma smiled. Taking a breath, he drew his attention to the delicious scent of food. 

"Hmm, there's obviously enough for more than one," Soma muttered thoughtfully, remembering the last culinary "delights" of his servant. "So, Agni, your master orders you to help him with getting rid of this huge amount of food!"

Soma began to eat with some fear – and just a minute later was already ready to empty the whole tray on his own. With a sinking heart Agni was watching over his master, who was eating his cooking with distinct pleasure. He hoped sincerely that the day spent in a feverish search for the necessary literature, then browsing through hundreds of pages of culinary books and the long-term begging court cooks for their secrets would not pass in vain. Noticing that the servant was unusually pale and frozen, Soma moved closer to him and, giving in to a sudden whim, patted him on the head with the matted snow-white hair; Agni hadn’t had the habit of hiding them under his turban yet.

"You seem to be a favorite of gods, since they gave you such a brilliant talent for cooking." 

Still feeling guilty before Agni, Soma repeated to him that very phrase that he himself would incredibly like to hear at the moments when he was branded worthless. 

"You're not useless. You are irreplaceable."

Well, it was even true: this day helped Soma see this.

Although, Agni's gasp and his tear-filled eyes made Soma scared he’d once again upset his servant. But the next second Agni's face lit up with a smile. Now it was the turn of Soma to freeze with amazement: his khansama has never smiled this way before; he’s almost never smiled at all. Carefully taking Soma's hand, he gently and affectionately kissed the back of the Prince's palm. The latter shuddered when a hot, clear tear had dropped on his hand.

"For your sake, my prince, I can do anything."

Nobody ever could say these words, utterly trivial for the royal servant, so sincerely. The prince was again struck to the depths of his soul, forgetting even to pull back his hand, which actually wasn’t supposed to be kissed by the servants without permission. Agni, in turn, took his time releasing it.

How much goodness is hidden inside this man, this thought appeared in Soma’s mind for the first time.

That day he felt desire to become someone’s "Agni" for the first time.

***

Once, playing with the strands of his faithful khansama’s silver hair, sixteen-year-old Soma trustfully – because it was impossible to talk with Agni the other way – told him about one familiar girl, the daughter of a court purohit. Agni immediately felt his heart freezing from the inside, as he had realized that his glorious prince was overtaken by a true first love. He stopped listening to his young master, his whole mind was now overfilled with a single thought: how to save, how to protect this young and pure soul from bitter and, unfortunately, inevitable disappointment. Agni was familiar with the family of this girl – and the very fact that he had dealings with them was a bad sign. A former Brahmin knew the girl's father too well, to be naive to believe that his daughter wouldn’t follow in his footsteps. The undeniable Brahmin holiness of this family has been tarnished long ago by the filth of worldly vices – and also had been skillfully hidden behind the mask of fake complacency. Agni was aware of the truth – nobody knows that better than I do – and therefore he passionately wanted to keep his master away from such people.

When Agni prepares holiday clothing for his prince who wanted to attend the annual Durga Puja festival, he can barely cope with his trembling hands and a worn-out heart. Who better than him could know that Brahmins’ offspring always take part in this holiday with great pleasure – and who better than him could know what they’re usually doing there. Agni, however, firmly believed in one more thing – in any case, no matter what, he wouldn’t allow his prince jump into the swamp of filth, following his chosen one. Agni would better let himself be deprived of the biggest blessing in this world, the sincere trust and appreciation of his master.

The festivities of this year didn’t differ from those of the previous ones. From the age of four Arshad had been accompanied his father to the Kali festival, so today's Durga Puja was already twenty-sixth in his life. From as long ago as Agni could remember, there was always too much of everything: too large crowds, irritatingly loud music, too dazzling plethora of colors and nauseating abundance of smells. And now, looking around, Agni was seeing that nothing has changed. Dressed men and women were still scurrying around, children were laughing, adults were singing and dancing, and Brahmins were saying prayers. All the usual, all boring.

Only instead of usual and expected sadness Agni suddenly feels calmness, and instead of the cold and alienation – these feelings were eating him from inside each year – a comfortable and quiet warmth. It has to be magic in the air today, perhaps.

Making his way through the crowd, Soma, clinging to Agni's arm, leaning pressed himself against him for a second. Agni mechanically intertwines their fingers, holding the master tighter. Furtively glancing at his prince, who had widely opened his mouth and was eagerly looking around with an expression of extreme delight on his face, Agni felt his heart had skipped a beat. Enchanted by the atmosphere of carefree jubilation, he is... quiet and calm, with lights dancing in the golden eyes and palms damp with excitement – that's how he looks like when he is happy. And now Agni himself can’t help but smile, looking into the eyes of passers-by, sparkling with fleeting – but genuine – happiness. He can’t help but marvel at excessively fancy – but truly amazing – beauty all around them.

Agni’s surprise – why couldn’t I notice all this before? – lasts no more than a second. The answer is more than obvious. His eyes closed for a second, and Agni put his left palm to his heart and mentally expressed his gratitude to Mother Kali, who was gazing calmly and proudly at them from dozens of sculptural portraits drawn in mottled flower garlands. In a symphony of prayers and hymns singing by priests, different multicolored petals were rising to the sky from all sides, and this floral rain was enchanting. Soma silently pulled Agni by the sleeve, urging him to share with him this fantastic sight, but Agni just couldn’t take an admiring look off of his master. My prince, thought Agni, how can I thank you for having taught me to feel life again?

"I'm here for the first time," the prince's enthusiastic whisper could scarcely be heard through the rumble of voices, and only after a few seconds Agni understood what his master meant. 

"Really?.." came out of his mouth. Agni forgot even to add his usual polite "master" or "my prince". Because his prince would hardly miss the opportunity to have fun at a big celebration like this. Agni cursed himself for his lack of restraint, when he had seen the prince's face clouded with mild sadness. Slowing down, he suddenly stops in the middle of the road. A few passers-by almost hit him, so that Agni stood right in front of him, shielding him from the crowd.

"I ... did not want to be here alone," Soma admitted, with his head dropped. "My parents, brothers and sisters never took me with them or just ignored me, and Meena kept telling that she was busy with household chores. So" – he shrugged and wanted to say something else, but eventually just sighed.

Agni felt almost physical aching pain in the chest, when a carefree smile had left the master’s face. That means – you, my sunny prince, who adores fun, joy and fascinating celebrations, have been missing the most important holiday of Bengal from year to year, just because... you had no one to share this eternal holiday of your soul? All over again, Soma turned the entire Agni’s world upside down. After that came a mixed feeling of guilt and shame: I wasn’t there for him. Being surrounded by sunlight from all sides, he had not let a single ray come into his soul, whilst his prince had bursting with the desire to share the light of his soul with someone – but there was not a single person to receive it, to receive him. Uncertainly reaching for him to comfort, Agni initially withdrew his arm fearfully, but then carefully placed his hand upon prince’s shoulder, being ready to remove it at any moment. 

"My company is not the one that you should cherish," he said, "but Your Highness can count on it anytime you want."

The prince’s palm covered his own. Agni forgot to breathe. 

"You adults hold back your promises so rarely," he muttered, intending to either shake Agni's hand off his shoulder, or on the contrary, hold it. All the Agni’s doubts dissolved in one second. Meeting the gaze of the young man, he squeezed his shoulders with both hands. 

"Let me be the first."

"And the only, I guess," Soma blurted, but then his face lit up with a smile again. "But I'll let you! Though sometimes you happen to be a bore, I trust you! You're not going to leave me again, Agni?"

The correct answer should have seemed completely obvious to Soma, but Agni was surprised that his prince put it in the form of a question. He evidently handles his role of a khansama too bad, if his master still needs a confirmation of his loyalty. If there weren’t crowded so bad, then Agni would immediately collapse on his knees before Soma.

A royal family needs a prince who would lead troops in case of an attack on the country or an internal strife. Servants need a master, the care for whom will bring them a piece of bread and a roof over their heads. Soma himself – the way he is – is needed only by Agni. And that’s why it is so easy to make a vow – to remain by his side for the rest of his days – knowing exactly that not a single word of this vow is uttered in vain.

Turning to the side, they are heading to the center of the square, where people dressed in festive clothes for every taste and color were dancing happily. Smiling, Agni intends to tell the prince about the meaning of these dances, but chokes with his own words when looking into the centre of the crowd. Right in front of them, about just twenty meters away, that girl who was the first love interest of the prince, was enjoying her dance with another young man. However, their movements from time to time were going beyond the pale – more than enough to realize that young and sensitive heart of the master will certainly crack right now. Enough to guess: they won’t stop at just dancing, and this dance is not the culmination of the evening of a windy daughter of a priest.

At that moment it was still possible to throw himself to Soma, put his hands over the prince’s eyes and get him away from here, but Agni stood motionless in the middle of the road. This happened not the way he planned and not the way he hoped. Though fast enough for prince's false hope not to settle deep in his heart. Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, Agni just watched silently as his master froze, staring at the shameless dance performed by the girl he liked, and the boy who was apparently liked by her. And from now Agni's own heart started to come apart at the seams.

That was going to happen, he repeated to himself. And let it happen now – when this passion haven’t yet dragged the prince to where... from where Agni himself couldn’t get out without the help of his Deity. That Deity, who’s for the first time right now facing the pain of disappointment – but just in order to preserve his internal purity, which is able to restore hope even to the most jaded souls.

"Oh... what a pity."

For Agni, who had already prepared comforting speeches, masala tea with calming herbs and a lot of prince's favorite sweets back at home, it became a complete surprise that, recovering from the initial shock, his master didn’t burst into tears, but merely shrugged and, on his second try, stretched his lips into a smile and said:

"Well, I... I hope not all the nobles behave like this, right, Agni? It would... hm-m... shook my faith in nobility."

The stunned servant, not daring to tell him the truth, only nodded. The prince cast a last sad glance towards the object of his former, probably, crush, then put his usual carefree smile on his face and exclaimed:

"It's mortally boring here, Agni, isn’t it? Let's just go make flower garlands!"

He grabbed Agni’s hand and hurried away in the opposite direction. For the first few seconds, Agni was just dragged along, but then, regaining his confidence, squeezed the prince’s palm and outrun him, staying one step ahead. Sitting down for the garland, Soma still put on a fake smile, but his fingers sorting through the scarlet and snow-white blooms of the rosella, were slightly trembling, indicating his inner confusion. Watching Soma intertwining the thin stems in sharp and hasty movements, Agni gently took his shaking hands into his own and showed his master how to do the weaving correctly. Gradually, the warmth returned to the cool fingers, the shiver went away, and the flowers began to fit together more tightly. Holding his breath, the prince couldn’t keep a wide satisfied smile, and his khansama, delighted to see it, praised him sincerely. Having finished with a garland, Soma, laughing, wrapped it over Agni’s neck, and then – whether seriously, or not – blurted that he looks good with it. Warmth and relief embraced Agni’s soul. His prince had recovered his cheery mood, and Agni again thought of his master as of child of the most merciful Gods.

When the prince, a truly golden child, had dragged him into a merry dance, Agni just broke into a good-natured smile and willingly submitted to the will of his young master. And when the night gently fell on the city, the most faithful of the servants had took the prince back to palace just in the right time, just before the feast began to become unworthy of even presence of the prince nearby. God forbid him from seeing anything.

That night, Agni realizes that there is no power in this world can make the radiance of this golden heart fade.

And Soma is just finally convinces that the radiance of unusual silvery eyes is the only thing worth visiting today's feast.

However, the calming tea eventually turned out to be necessary. The first love always ends in tears. But it’s a whole different story if these tears are carefully wiped off with a soft handkerchief, and small scratches on the heart are easily healed by cozy sit-rounds near the hearth and warm comforting cuddles, which for both of them were also – for the very first time.

***

Agni likes to go to the market with his master.

If only because of Soma, who was constantly admiring this or that beautiful thing, telling funny stories which were made up by himself, having cute conversations with the children who had recognized him – but always clinging firmly to his hand and thus causing an uncontrollable inner delight inside him.

Once, after staying near one of the counters for too long, Agni didn’t find his prince nearby. Looking around in search of him, Agni was already going mad with worry, but the next second breathless Soma bumped into him.

"Agni, look what I've found!" – without allowing the servant to come round, the prince showed him two fancy medallions on the elegant chains – almost identical, but one was made of gold, and the second – of silver. "Look how they fit together!" – exclaimed the prince, admiring the sun’s reflection on the sparkling surface of the jewelries. "Just like you and me, right?" 

Agni opened his mouth to, as usual, gently scold the prince for the fact that he could get lost – and then immediately closed it back. He couldn’t find any answer to these words. My prince, don’t you mean that... Agni mentally gave himself a hard slap in the face for obscene thoughts. What am I thinking about? – it is offensive to even imagine that a man like him – a criminal, tarnished with unforgivable sins – can be treated equally with his prince, the most perfect creation of gods. Not to mention the glaring caste inequality, that could be broken only in the next births.

Thinking this way, Agni dropped out of reality for a moment – that's why he flinched, surprised, when he had felt his prince’s nimble fingers slightly touch his neck. The Prince was doing up the clasp on the chain with the silver medallion, whilst golden one was already shining on his own neck over his other jewels.

"See?" Soma stepped away from him, admiring the sight of Agni with the medallion. "Beautiful, right?" and then, without letting his servant say a word: "And now let’s get over here: that nasty old man did not want to sell them to me, so I stole them from under his nose... "

Immediately, without giving Agni any chance even to understand what’s happening, Soma grabbed his arm and rushed off the market, dragging the servant with him. By the way, these strangely fast moves that attracted the attention of a merchant who had already started looking for a thief. It wasn’t easy to maneuver in the middle of the crowd, and after a few minutes an angry shopkeeper overtook them. However, having learned that his kidnapper is the prince of Bengal, the merchant started asking for forgiveness and gave him the jewels for free; however, Agni still paid for them, furtively smiling in response to the inflated cheeks of his master.

And the silver medallion had never disappeared from Agni’s neck. Seeing it as the most precious and cherished treasure, he hid it from strangers’ curious eyes, keeping it under his clothes. Looking at him, Soma began to do the same.

Soma doesn’t believe that silver is less precious metal than gold. Furtively looking into Agni's silvery eyes – in which were always reflected not submission, but incredible love, loyalty and unconditional devotion to his prince – Soma sees all the treasures of the world in their depth. The only treasure in this world that is worth of admiration.

***

It’s so unfortunate that the one who is most worthy of the royal throne will never inherit it.

Sometimes Agni with a big pride and even bigger fear remembers an occur that happened shortly before his trip to England with prince.

That day, Agni managed to finish his household chores only by nightfall. Most of his day was devoted to the cricket match (his role was in the sincere support of his master's team), and he also took upon himself a part of Meena's work: by the end of the day the girl was looking so exhausted that Agni, always being compassionate, had immediately sent her to rest. Excessive washing and cleaning were not a burden to him, but they took a lot of time, so Agni got to bed only by three o'clock. However, barely having time to change into light pajamas, Agni tilt his head on the pillow – and then heard a suspicious noise that was coming from the lower floor. The smell of burning that followed the noise, forced him to jump out of bed and rush down the stairs – where the family hearth was located. Probably, one of the younger princes, returning home in the dark, just as usual, forgot to extinguish it before going to bed. Mentally cursing himself for noticing it too late, Agni ran into the hall – and froze in horror in the doorway.

Not that this fire was especially awful. It was much worse that the hall was fully covered with expensive carpets, curtains and elegant draperies – as a sign of truly royal luxury. Therefore, it started burning in the center of the hall, and then the fire spread to the doors and windows and everything that was covered with a fabric, including doorways – the most dangerous places, because their massive wooden beams could fall down.

The reason for the Agni’s internal agony was tossing hastily between the flames. His prince, in his usual pajamas made of thin – and flammable! – fabric, clenching his teeth from zeal, if not from burns, was running from place to place, trying to extinguish the surrounding flame by a thoroughly ragged piece of cloth. The servant came to prince in an instant, and clasped him tightly across his waist.

"Agni!" the prince gasped. "What are you do-... hey, leave me!" he exclaimed, almost angrily, tearing himself away from the servant’s grip as he dragged him out of fire. Hastily looking around, Agni noticed a doorway at the end of the hall, leading to one of the innumerable palace corridors, and rushed there. If the flame stops in time – it will not get there, and the prince will be safe.

"Let me go! This is an order, Agni!" in response, the servant just pushed his master into the corridor and, spreading his hands wide, blocked the way back. 

"No. Please stay here." 

Reflections of the flame, illuminating prince’s face from time to time, allowed Agni to see that his master had turned pale with rage and frowned angrily. 

"Agrh, you’re acting like this?!" Soma gritted his teeth. Then he suddenly bent down and slipped under Agni's arm, bursting back into the inflamed hall.

"Highness!" sending subordination to hell, Agni caught the young man and jerked him to himself, causing Soma’s hiss of pain – and got scared himself by the rudeness of his own actions. Moreover. The fact that they ended up being so… close to each other, both dressed in simple light nightgowns that were literally making no distinction between the two – that fact frightened no less, increasing the feeling that something unusual and dangerous was happening around.

"Please, stay away!" forgetting about manners again, Agni put his hand to Soma's mouth, because the latter was about to argue again. "It will never be better for anyone, if you get hurt in the fire," the servant hastily put his hand behind his back as he’d understood what kind of arguments will work on Soma. "You will surely be much more useful if you bring here a couple of buckets with water." 

The indignation on Soma's face instantly gave its way to determination.

"I'll get the biggest barrel we've got!" – He promised fervently and rushed into the interior of the palace. 

This will definitely take up much of prince’s time – enough for his faithful khansama to ensure the safety for him. Sighing with relief, Agni rushed back into the hall and began to extinguish the flame with heavy curtains. The Raja will definitely be furious to see what it turned into. This thought made Agni smile vengefully. The thin cotton fabric of his pajamas was already touched by fire somewhere, and he felt the heat bathing him from all sides. For a moment into Agni's mind crept the thought that such a wide-spread fire could not have happened by chance, but he quickly broke it off, sure that it was just the influence of smoke.

He had almost managed to cope with the fire in the center of the room when he heard hasty, heavy footsteps behind. The prince returned earlier than Agni had expected. Turning for a second, he saw Soma hurrying to him, dragging two heavy buckets of water. However – the arched doorway through which his prince was about to pass was still on fire. Agni didn’t even have time to warn the master, when suddenly the wooden beam over the burning arch had cracked and tilted...

Agni rushed to Soma and pushed him back into the corridor with such a force that both of them, unable to stay on their feet, collapsed to the floor with a huge crash. The next second, instead of a scorching fiery wave, they were showered with ice water from overturned buckets, and Agni realized that he got to prince just in time. The blazing beam fell with a crash; the servant and the master weren’t touched touch with a single coal. Intending to apologize for his excessive rudeness, Agni shifted his worried gaze to the prince who was lying flat underneath him, and, completely bewildered, only managed to swallow nervously. They found themselves in such a situation that was extremely unaccustomed. Agni hasn’t ever dared touch his prince’s hair without trembling, carefully brushing them – and now he was pressing him to the floor with his whole body. He had allowed himself to come closer to his deity only occasionally, just to help him get dressed – and now their faces were so close to each other that Agni could feel Soma's warm breath on his skin. This is so bad, he thought, feeling how his heart started to beat much faster than permitted, and his cheeks felt the fire hotter than the flame back in the hall. Most of all, perhaps, he was afraid to ever see his master in that light: still young, fragile and adorable, but from now – unexpectedly attractive.

Soma, still lying underneath him, only breathed heavily, wide-eyed from fright. Wishing to calm him down with all his heart, Agni couldn’t find anything better than to caress his cheek tenderly. Soma gasped intermittently, slightly lifting up his head towards him. And the very next second Agni withdrew his hand in horror, as he had suddenly imagined how his action looked like.

"At least we are safe from the fire now," he muttered hastily, jumping to his feet and extending his hand to Soma. The latter took it and slowly rose from the floor. The very air around them was overfilled with awkwardness, suffocating no less than smoke. 

To Agni's relief, the other servants immediately rushed to the noise. Giving the prince into the hands of sleepy Meena, Agni threw himself to the help. After several minutes of combined efforts there wasn’t any smoldering ember left in the hall. Agni thanked his assistants warmly and led them to the stairs to the second floor: there the little rooms for the servants were located. His heart jumped when, returning to his prince, he had seen him leant against the wall with his hands in front of his face. Closing the gap between them in a few steps, Agni tried to calm Soma down with a strong comforting embraces. Only after a few seconds he understood, freezing: he had dared to do it without permission – just because he wished it himself.

The sweet relief from the fact that the prince wasn’t hurt, instantly mixed with bitter despair. Mother Kali knows, Agni wanted nothing more than to surround his young master with the care and love for which Soma have yearned, and which he had never seen from anyone. Even with this, I cannot cope, was taunting remark from his inner voice. His bright, cheerful and, as it turned out, insanely brave prince gave Agni no choice but to love him with all his heart. But Agni's love was becoming too strong.

"I will light the fire," Agni said, delicately moving Soma away from himself and smiling reassuringly. Having heard of the fire, the prince shuddered again. The servant hastened to reassure him:

"Do not worry. Fire can be destroying, but warming too."

With Agni's efforts, they settled comfortably in a few minutes near the newly-bred hearth. Soma was wrapped in a big warm blanket, and only his hands with a mug of hot tea looked out of this dense cocoon. Agni himself was sitting a little way away, never took his eyes off his young prince, concerned.

"Master Soma," he pulled himself together, for the first time deciding to scold Soma for something, "weren’t you told that it's extremely dangerous to fight the fire alone?" - However, of course, you weren’t, he immediately realized. "Why haven’t you called for help?" Agni asked, and then gasped in amazement, guessing what the answer would be.

"I should have handled it myself," Soma muttered, having his nose stuck in the cup. "And you," he pointed at Agni, "were ordered not to interfere. You must have obeyed."

Agni took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes hard. This was the first time that the words and actions of the prince almost made him angry. What kind of orders, in fact, can we talk about when the person who embodies the sunlight himself is in danger? This thought struck Agni in the heart. His master was accustomed to a luxurious life from the very childhood – and at the same time had to raise himself, not loved by anyone and only rarely noticed. He had been branded a son of the mighty gods, he got used to worship and admiration; he was taught to that his life alone is worth of thousands of common people’s lives. And he – the one whom all the servants branded an unbearable narcissistic little boy – is not afraid to risk it, so priceless. Agni bowed his head.

"I humbly ask for your forgiveness for allowing myself unacceptable rudeness towards you. Your courage is worthy of the highest praise, and I bow my head before it." – opening his eyes, Agni saw how the corners of the Soma’s lips twitched in a smile. But his expression still remained dreary. Leaving the cup aside, Soma emerged from the veil.

"What can I do to make my father feel confident about giving the country into my hands someday?" He whispered. In response to the puzzled look on his servant’s face, he said with sadness in his voice, being unusually serious, "He decided for some reason that I'm not fit for being a heir. That's why I manage to get his attention so rarely, right?" – Without waiting for an answer, Soma continued excitedly, "And therefore I have to prove that I won’t lose to no one and nothing! Then father will understand," he sighed, "that I am able to keep our Bengal in my hands and rule it as good as he does. Can you understand, Agni?"

Agni started thinking. Saying that the twenty-sixth child has very little chance to take the throne – means betraying the prince's aspiration, destroying all the hope for realization of his goals. Standing on the ruins of his pipe dreams that were built with such efforts – won’t his priceless master lose all the beautiful light of his soul, which Agni admires so much? 

Therefore, Agni, with a palm to his heart, bowed respectfully and said one thing in which he was strongly assured:

"You will be the most honorable of all the rulers, Your Highness."

A peaceful half-smile that appeared on the prince's face comforted Agni's soul: he has said all the right words.

"This is absolutely certain!" the prince beamed, his head held up proudly. "And you, Agni, will become my right hand."

All over again Agni felt a surge of overwhelming tenderness. Prince Soma is truly a child of the gods, and he wants to be truly worthy of this high title. Of course, this unlimited adoration and admiration from Agni alone is not enough for him.

"As you wish," was the short answer.

Vigorously nodding, Soma looked at his khansama and stretched both his hands forward. Agni smiled. In the language of his prince, this gesture meant: "Lull me, put me to bed and stay with me until I fall asleep." Having risen from his place, Agni extinguished the fire and carefully and several times checked whether there were any smoldering embers. Then he sat next to his master and wrapped him with the blanket more tight. Soma then put his head on the servant's lap. The latter allowed himself an affectionate smile, running his fingers through disheveled hair of his prince.

"Sleep well, master Soma. I'll make sure that nobody and nothing disturb your sleep." 

The darkness concealed the prince's returned smile; as he got comfortable, he immediately dozed off. Agni smiled softly. This is totally in the style of his master. He talks about things on a global scale, makes vast plans, sets unbelievably great tasks for himself – and has every confidence that he will certainly fulfill them. And then dives under Agni’s wing and, sniffing as a child, falls deep in his sleep until the morning.

Soma really wants to become a great man who will change the course of history and help the whole vast world get better. But sometimes it seems to him that he wants to do it only to see the sparkle in the silver eyes and hear the velvet voice: "I'm proud of you, my prince."

Soma laughs out loud every time he hears from those who consider themselves adults and wise, that people from the lower castes are desecrated by their very origin and can’t be worthy of love and respect unlike the upper classes. Their hopeless blindness and that impenetrable veil, which they – regretfully – put over their eyes themselves, amaze him.

Soma doesn’t know a person more worthy of love than his Agni.


	2. Chapter 2. The Sun and the Moon

His master loves quiet moonlit nights.

No less than carelessly playing or dancing in the sunlight, he adores watching the deep blue twilight sky with a thoughtful calm smile on his face – just like right now, when the pleasant coolness is spreading through the air, and the fresh-built London music hall is preparing for today's grandiose performance. Soma, already dressed in his stage costume, is filled with excitement, wondering how many people today he will make happy only by his showing up.

Agni, as always, arrived extra early, to have enough time to take a place near the stage: _what if someone from the crowd tried to attack the prince? I must be there to protect him!_ Heading to doors of the huge music hall and nervously clutching the ticket in his hand, he looked around – and noticed his master standing on the balcony of the second floor and staring into the mysterious distance with a dreamy smile on his shining face.

First of all, of course, he wanted to immediately go up to the prince and cover his bare shoulders with something warm. The guards who are not allowed to let strangers backstage, would not become a hindrance for him. But Agni froze halfway, afraid to disturb this serenity on Soma's face. He has long been accustomed to the fact that now he does not destroy everything he touches anymore – thanks to his prince – but still he did not trust himself enough to guarantee that he would not make any unintentional mistake anymore. An ordinary khansama is not allowed to disturb his master without special necessity; he must always know his place. And now, standing on the ground and looking up at the prince, who is shining bright above him, the most faithful servant understands even more clearly that Prince Soma takes that very position in this world, which will never be attainable for him, for Agni. Then, horrified by catching himself thinking about how his master is now _handsome_ , Agni reminded himself that, in _all_ the circumstances, he does not have the right to get to his closer than it is permitted. Hoping that Soma would soon feel the cooling and immediately hide in a warm room, Agni, without being seen by Soma, slipped unnoticed inside the building.

Without seeing him, but as if sensing an inexplicable impulse, Soma pulled away from the gradually cooling railing and, taking the last dreamy look into the night sky, walked away from the balcony. Actually, he did not just walk around the theater only twenty minutes before Phantom Five rehearsal. The youngest soloist had suddenly disappeared, and Soma offered to find their friend.

“Hey! There you are!” he found young Harcourt on the third floor, standing on the balcony similar to that one where Soma himself had been watching the darkness a few minutes ago. The boy was looking thoughtfully into rapidly darkening sky; rare and tiny stars began to sparkle on it already. "You really scared us!" Soma leaned against the wall. “Something happened?” He raised an eyebrow, interested.

Startled, Joanne turned around, following his friend's voice. There was a guilty look and a bashful half-smile on his face, like he wanted to say sorry that I made you all worry.

"What, do you think, is the distance from the Moon to the Sun?" Some time later, the sudden and rather strange question was asked. 

Usually, Soma is the one who’s never at a loss for words, but now even he was confused. Coming from young Harcourt, who was known as the cleverest student of the Red House, such a question sounded kind of weird.

"With each passing day the Sun moves faster and faster across the sky," the thin, high-pitched, almost girlish voice of Joanne was heard at dusk. "Like it is trying to hide from something. I could never understand why should the Sun hide by nightfall, why does it deprive us of its light."

Soma blinked, baffled. _Please, Kali, what is this vaunted school even teaching them?_ He mentally shook his head, intending to tell his friend all he knew about the planets and stars in the sky – since the astronomy teacher who taught the prince in India knew his subject perfectly.

"As a child, I used to believe that this wicked moon is pushing the sun out of the sky to steal its light and shine instead of it," little Harcourt continued. Soma was almost ready to laugh heartily in response. “And now I thought: what if the Moon is just trying to catch up with the Sun?”

Ordinarily, Soma would simply make the joke of this conversation. However, something from his younger friend’s words touched him, and his chest for some strange and unknown reason began to ache.

"I've been studying in Weston for the third year," Joanne said, "and during this time I’ve managed to read and learn by heart an incredible amount of beautiful poems. So the poetry sees the Moon as majestic and regal – but, changeable and windy, every day it appears in a new guise. Maybe that is why the Sun, warm and gentle, deceived by the Moon’s seeming unattainability and afraid to approach its greatness – just runs away?"

The smile completely disappears from the prince’s face.

"And the Moon is just waiting for the moment when it can shine in the sky side by side with the Sun."

Swallowing nervously, Soma wiped the sweat from his forehead. The story, invented by little Harcourt, brought him out in a cold sweat. Since when did Soma become so sensitive?

"If only the Moon could catch up with the Sun and they were not separated anymore," Joanne said, as if talking about things that were extremely important to him, "then nights would be bright as days, and I would not be so scared," he admitted, flinching.

Still impressed by the pathetic story of the Moon and the Sun, Soma did not answer, looking straight ahead, distracted. Nothing more than children’s stories, on the one hand; just in the spirit of stories about talking animals or magical plants. However, looking into this tale from the other side, Soma sees the gentle and sunny smile before his eyes – and feels quite real helplessness, as soon as its image suddenly slips out of sight.

Discarding all the strange thoughts, that had settled with heaviness in his chest for some unknown reason, Soma forced himself to laugh and patted his young friend on a head of profusely moistened with a fixing solution blond hair. Joanne always reminded him of a little mouse, especially when Sebastian's predatory feline eyes appeared near him. Poor little Harcourt, apparently, was deadly afraid of him: every time in his presence poor fellow has been trembling really hard. With the patronizing big-brother gesture, Soma placed his hand on his younger friend’s shoulder.

"Don’t ever be afraid of darkness when you’re next to me! Agni once said that my smile can lighten up everything half a mile around; and you know, Agni cannot lie! So hold on to me and you will never be lost!"

Joanne nodded readily, clearly accepting his friend’s words at face value. Soma smiled.

“Fine! Now let’s hurry up: our way out will be so soon, and I'm already dying to perform my new dance! I’ve invented it just today!”

He literally drags poor Harcourt after himself, and soon, after a few tense rehearsals, comes on the stage first – although this is against the order prescribed by Sebastian. No matter how many times their acclaimed musical band appeared before the audience, each time Soma was overfilled with pure delight and inextinguishable desire to please the public with all that he was capable of – although his bandmates, except perhaps, little Joanne, did not share his enthusiasm. Soma, of course, knew why his college friends had joined the band, and also had his own goal – to help little Ciel. To be necessary and useful. And what could be more necessary and useful than to share his happiness with a couple of hundred joyful strangers? Especially since for Soma it was easy and natural: dancing and singing always served as a source of inspiration for the prince, as a way to express his feelings and emotions, Agni wouldn’t let him lie.

Selflessly, with a clear and sonorous voice, singing another absurdity that Sebastian forced them to learn, Soma unerringly finds among the hundreds of pairs of eyes in the audience those very eyes that are sparkling for him brighter than any of stars.

And the truth is: why should Soma need those tiny dim stars when he has the real shining Sun.

The Sun quietly sailed into his room, closing the door behind the last visitor, and gave him one of his usual smiles, the one that always touches Soma’s heart with the soft warmth. Having received a few dozens of different fans, Soma realized that the most devoted admirer is now here with him. Awareness left him with an inexplicable bitter and unaccustomed aftertaste: he doesn’t want to see him in such a status anymore.

Soma couldn’t yet understand why, but in recent times Agni’s admiration for him has ceased to satisfy the prince. Every time the servant bowed politely, some kind of bitterness remained in Soma’s soul. Yes, Agni was his servant – and it had always been taken for granted. It was the one of those points that sustain the way of seeing the world: it is so, because it is so. Try to challenge it – meant shake the very ground under the feet.

Now Agni began to remind him about this too often. "Agni, come sit and have breakfast with me!" "I'm not allowed, master Soma." "Agni, why are you standing so far away from me, come closer!" "That's that I supposed to do, master Soma." "Agni, enough with your foolish cleaning already!" "I must not, master Soma." "Agni, this is an order, for gods’ sake!" "...I do n-… as you wish, master Soma." Even the habitual and natural "master" began to surpass the limits of patience. Building on their, his and Agni's statuses, such an attitude was the most suitable and correct one – but still something deeply _wrong_ in its sound was bothering the prince.

Since childhood, caste differences have been imprinted in Soma's worldview not as clearly as in the heads of his arrogant brothers and sisters: he had been receiving all the good of human communication from his servants, and therefore he couldn’t so easily count them among the second class human beings. He took their care for granted, but would not consider them unworthy in any way. His old servant who had babysat him as a child, was his granddad, Meena was his beloved older sister, and right up to the most painful conversation with her in the Crystal Palace Soma sincerely didn’t understand what _inequality_ means. Then along came Ciel, who was pushing Soma around as much as he could – but only motivated by pure and sincere fraternal love, of course. In the company of Lizzie and Sullie Soma could always laugh heartily and spend time at carefree games and light casual conversations – young ladies were always looking forward to prince's fascinating stories about his life in the royal palace. With his Phantom Five friends Soma could discuss the hardship of school life, drag them into a song competition, and even give them a couple of friendly dance lessons.

This is it, the right word – friendship. Soma was happy to consider anyone slightly familiar as his friend. Master of maintaining the eternal atmosphere of the holiday around him, the prince, however, had to admit every single time that even among friends he was not half as comfortable as he was with Agni. Soma smiled sadly, realizing the difference. Almost the same age, approximately the same level of the society – Soma and his friends were _equals_. With Agni – it was the exact opposite. Speaking of him, when Soma tried to imagine his khansama approaching to the prince on "tum " and without mentioning the title, the picture seemed terribly unreal – and therefore painfully sad.

The curry contest was really a turning point in Soma's life. Blinded by the oppressive pain of losing Meena, he allowed himself to forget, for some time, about his affection for Agni – most likely, forcing the latter to worry a lot and search for the reasons of the prince's coldness in himself. Those long winter days spent without him in the gloomy and unfriendly Phantomhive mansion, Meena's ruthless confession and – to be honest – Sebastian's brutal accusations taught Soma a lot. And at this very moment when he asked Agni whether he wants to stay with him – he already knew the answer. But, by asking for a concent, he gives his khansama a sign: _I appreciate you. I want to know your opinion. It's just as important as mine._

Agni either does not understand all the hints, or, for some reason, doesn’t want to understand them.

The corners of Soma's lips jerked down, but then he immediately put smile back to his face: knowing that his sadness would certainly rub off on Agni, Soma didn’t allow himself lose control. He ran up to his servant, put his arm tightly around his shoulder, and began to chatter happily, generously sharing fresh impressions of the triumphal concert.

Agni is painfully proud of his prince.

Soma is ready to give a hundred more of such performances, so that this feeling will never leave Agni.

While they were talking, they eventually missed the moment when all their companions had left the theater. Not having found Ciel's carriage near the gates, master and servant realized that their friends had gone home without them, too tired of waiting. Raising his head up, Soma anxiously looked for the outline of the pointed towers of Phantomhive mansion.

"Don’t worry, Your Highness. The moon will lighten up our path", Agni smiles affectionately, and Soma can’t help but compare this beautiful luminary with his faithful confidant. Because it’s none other than Agni who illuminates his path with the inextinguishable light of his devotion, and only thanks to him Soma can finally find the way home – in every sense.

After he had stated that dark streets frightened him, Soma hangs on to Agni’s arm. They walked about half a mile before the lunar disk slowly disappeared behind heavy thunderclouds – and then it began to rain hard, as a reminder for them both of the rainy season in their native Bengal. Soma was inspired. Cheerfully laughing out loud, he was catching large raindrops in his palms and spinning around in the middle of the empty pavement, as if he was still on the stage.

Admiring his prince, Agni did not allow himself to take a single step in his direction.

Soma only waited for Agni to join him.

Only when the prince began to sniff, Agni dared to approach his master from behind, took him into cautious embrace and lowered his head above him, covering the prince from the rain, like some kind of living coat. Soma hardly contain disappointed sigh, realizing that this gesture was motivated just by Agni's desire to protect him from the bad weather. Little Harcourt, it turns out, was right. Then how to catch up with this Sun, which is constantly slipping away from him?

Remembering his friends, Soma became upset again. With Agni, they are definitely not friends. A friend would not worship his friend, as if he was a god come down from heaven. Soma chuckled sadly. Perhaps, a friend should not serve his friend as well – only if they do not want to, of course.

Kali knows how much Soma desires to call Agni his friend.

But now, while Agni hides him from the cold, remaining vulnerable to rain himself, this, of course, is impossible. After all, Soma allowed himself a sigh. He is an adult now – and from now on he can no longer move aside the concern and care of those around him. Maybe that's what makes people adults, thought Soma. Pulling away from Agni, he took off his leather jacket – hell, where only Sebastian got such an amazing material?

"My prince, why do you ..." Agni didn’t even have time to finish as Soma put the edge of a jacket in his left hand and gestured him to lift it above their heads, so that it would cover them like an umbrella.

“See?” Soma nodded to the top. "Now the rain isn’t too bad for _both_ of us, is it?"

Without concealing his concern for Soma's health, Agni can’t help but admire his generosity.

His master loves quiet moonlit nights, especially rainy nights.

Even if only because he can firmly lean against Agni and walk around the quiet London arm in arm with him all night long.

Agni only seldom allows himself to go far away from his prince.

But even when they huddle so close together, as right now, Soma can’t keep up with him.

The sunrise that they met somewhere in the still peaceful London streets, was unexpectedly beautiful. Perhaps, because after the rain stopped at last, a bright seven-colored rainbow blossomed in the clear sky. Enchanted, Soma leaned against the shoulder of his attendant – and realized that he is so tired that he can hardly get to home without support. When Agni had offered his prince to carry him, Soma flatly refused at first: it is foolish to believe that Agni was tired at least a little less. But when Agni, after all, carefully picked him up, the prince just couldn’t resist, and gently wrapped his arms around Agni's neck and laid his head on his servant’s shoulder; fortunately, they are just a few blocks away from home. _Well, are friends supposed to act like this?_ Soma thought, realizing that even if the answer is negative, he won’t give up the moments like this.

When they returned to the mansion, Agni first of all put his master into the bedroom, carefully sat him down on the bed and began to prepare clean and dry clothes for him. Soma couldn’t take his eyes from his khansama, following every movement. Having finished with the clothes, Agni came close to the prince, kneeled next to his bed – so that their heads turn out to be approximately on the same level – and began to unbraid thin braids that he had skillfully braided yesterday. Completely relaxed, Soma pressed himself to his servant trustfully; no matter how much time has passed since they met, he will always be amazed how tenderly and caring Agni always carries out such routine tasks, which, normally, should have made him totally bored long ago. Deftly turning around, he glanced at Agni over the shoulder, to receive a gentle and kind smile in return.

 _Was it_ I _who had made you_ such _a person?_

"Agni," burst out before Soma has time to consider what he is about to ask. "I heard the other day you were quietly singing a song to yourself while watering flowers."

Agni's fingers froze for a moment; the servant was obviously embarrassed.

"Prince, I..."

“Hey!” – Jumping on the bed, Soma turned to face him. "Come on, you sing just as good as I do!" He exclaimed; a brilliant idea immediately came to his mind. "Let's make sure, right now!"

Agni hesitated. He started blushing, and Soma found it hard not to notice.

“Come on, what are you afraid of?” He spread his arms. "It won’t be "wrong" or "inappropriate", as you’re constantly saying.”

"I'm not sure that I'll be as good as you at singing," Agni replied evasively.

Now Soma was fully confident of his intentions.

"Think that I asked you to sing me a lullaby, if it makes it easier for you," he made final argument, against which – he knew – Agni wouldn’t go. After a ten-second pause, the servant finally managed to squeeze out the answer.

"All right," he said. "After all, I, as your…"

“Friend?” Soma cut him off in a middle, shiny smile on his face. Agni stops in the middle of the sentence.

"...As Your Highness wishes," he regains calmness after a few seconds. Soma furtively sighed: Agni doesn’t see himself as his friend too.

"That very song I’ve heard from you back then!" He exclaimed, forcing himself to regain his habitual carelessness. On Agni's face was fear again – _maybe not, please?_ But the look of decision on his prince’s face made it clear to him that any objections were not to be taken. Therefore, as soon as Soma settled comfortably among the pillows, the room dived into the soft sound of a beautiful velvety voice.

_How do I love thee? Let me count the ways._  
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height  
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight  
For the ends of being and ideal grace. 

_I love thee to the level of every day's_  
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.  
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.  
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. 

_I love thee with the passion put to use_  
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.  
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose  
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, 

_Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,  
I shall but love thee better after death._

Quite predictable, Soma was listening to Agni with bated breath. The voice of his faithful companion sounded great even before, but right now, blending with moving lyrics and a pleasant melody – just a delight for the ear. Having given an admiring look to his khansama, Soma was surprised when discovered that he was singing with his eyes closed. And, freezing in his place, he didn’t dare to move until Soma lightly shook his shoulder. But even then he seemed to have opened his eyes only to hang his head and look at the floor, confused.

"This poem..." Agni started talking hastily, as if to justify himself, "is from that book you and I bought the other day. I had read it right before getting back to work, and that's why it has been embedded in my memory so firmly." Soma noticed the servant nervously twirling the long strand of his hair. "I deeply apologize if anything seemed to you... "

Hastily invented excuses instantly disappeared from Agni's thoughts, when he had felt Soma's fingers stroking his hair, and saw the sweetest expression on his master's face. For several years that had been spent next to him, Agni managed to learn his prince’s unique language of facial expressions and gestures inside and out. Therefore, the words that were so easy to read on his face – _there is nothing to worry about. I love your choice, I love your singing. I love everything you do_ – touched Agni to such degree that he was ready to burst into tears.

"Bring me this book, Agni," a sly smile on Soma's face. "I want to sing something for you, too."

The book of different British poets’ poems appeared in their house last week – after looking into the bookstore, Soma wished to learn more about British literature; Agni fully supported his aspirations. In those rare moments when Agni had a free minute during the day, Soma often noticed him with a book in his hands; therefore, knowing that he has very little time for his favorite hobby, the prince arranged a small literary night for them two. Curling up on the broad sofa with their new book, the master and servant were reading it together – one poem by one. And there was one particular poem, which was supposed to be read by Soma, made him think – so that he read it several times to himself, and then refused to voice it, dragging Agni for a walk to the garden instead. Now Soma finally felt ready to read it aloud. Taking the book from Agni's hands, he nodded in gratitude, opened the necessary page, and a new melody, flowing in a sonorous, confident voice, filled the bedroom.

_Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?_  
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:  
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,  
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 

_Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,_  
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,  
And every fair from fair sometime declines,  
By chance or natures changing course untrimm'd: 

_But thy eternal summer shall not fade,_  
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,  
Nor shall death brag thou wandrest in his shade,  
When in eternal lines to time thou growest, 

_So long as men can breathe or eyes can see  
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee._

Unlike Agni, Soma was singing with his eyes wide open, and therefore he’s seen emotions change on the face of his khansama – from sincere amazement to tender admiration, in the single spectrum. Through the window glass, just opposite the bed, could be seen the timid sun finally creeping out from the eternal London clouds, but Soma knew that it wasn’t it lighting the room and warming his soul. Completing the song, the prince proudly watched his loyal servant taking a bow to him.

"I didn’t ever think of expecting anything less from you. You are singing just magically, Master Soma.”

Soma beamed, pleased with himself.

“I can sing more! Do you want to listen?”

Agni smiled affectionately at him.

“With pleasure.”

He sank to the floor next to the prince's bed again, and Soma, burying his face in the book, began to read everything, giving his own music to each poem. Lulled by the melodious voice of his master – _they should give him more solo parts_ – Agni didn’t notice how he fell asleep, his head resting on the edge of Soma's bed. The latter, noticing that his servant was already sleeping, smiled in affection and, bending over, gently pressed his lips to Agni’s temple.

No – they will never become friends. Soma has many friends and can have even more of them, infinitely many of them. Even if the whole world befriended him, there would be no one like Agni. This reverential awe that is so visible in every act and gesture of Agni, and this overwhelming feeling that emerges in Soma's chest, when he sees the Sun itself in the shining silver eyes of his khansama. Can this be called a banal, dry, hollow word "friendship"?

Soma can’t find the right word yet, but now he feels like time freezes around them and these moments can last forever.

With a feeling of complete satisfaction of today, Soma leaned back against the soft pillow, like against the cloud – the second one was deftly slipped under Agni's head – and slept peacefully until the very evening.

***

And the gloomy London was still taunting them with awful weather, hiding the sunlight under the shadow of heavy shaggy clouds.

One cloudy autumn morning, when Agni silently enters the prince’s room, intending to offer him morning tea, he found his master doing something quite unusual. Stretching his left hand on the table with the palm up, Soma, sitting in a chair, bent over it with a thin brush in the other hand. There also was a cup with mysterious mixture of deep ocher color. Being completely involved in the process of painting, he raised his head only when Agni gently touched his shoulder in a try to get his attention.

"How’s that?" smiling, young prince raised his painted hand and nodded towards it.

Agni took a closer look at the drawing – and realized that it would be very difficult for him to formulate his answer. It was probably supposed to be an uncomplicated floral pattern with a large flower in the middle, encircled with picturesque curls woven into a simple ornament. In fact, the result resembled a huge ugly spider with long paws, sitting on the prince's hand. And the flower looked... not really like a flower. Eight sharp, splayed petals of various sizes protruded in all directions, more like porcupine’s quills. Moreover, Soma put too much paint on the brush and managed to put a pair of thick blobs on his skin. Agni smiled, patronizing. The prince will be upset if he has to have this questionable adornment for a few whole weeks. And therefore...

"Allow me, my prince."

Without any hesitation, prince handed him a cup of henna and the brush. Having settled in front of his master, Agni frowned, assessing the amount of work. Fingers that were holding a brush, trembled at first: he himself wasn’t so good with arts, and was afraid to make Soma's bad drawing even worse.

"Why did you suddenly decide to make mehndi, my prince?" more to get rid of his own worrying, asked Agni, putting the brush into the cup of paint.

"I wanted to learn something new," Soma shrugged. He gave a short chuckle, when the soft brush tip touched his hand, pleasantly tickling his skin – when Soma was doing it himself, there hadn’t been such a feeling. "Ciel doesn’t come for the second week already, you are always busy in the kitchen or in the garden, so I was mortally bored, and..." with a brief glance at Agni's work, Soma gone silent, not able to take his eyes off. Under his servant's brush, big ugly petals miraculously became a multitude of small and graceful ones that were assembling into a beautiful flower. And huge deformed blots suddenly blossomed into the delicate leaves, with the curlicues all around them. Seeing how skillfully Agni turns his ridiculous scribbles into a real art, Soma became convinced one more time that his khansama has truly magical hands.

"You can breathe, my prince. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt: just don’t move your hand".

Soma, who did actually watch Agni with bated breath, grinned and imperceptibly moved closer – judging by the concentrated expression of Agni’s face, who didn’t even flinch – it was indeed imperceptibly. Enchanted by the smooth and light movements of the brush, Soma returned to the already familiar thought that him and Agni miraculously managed to perfectly complement each other. Having succumbed to spontaneous desire to learn the art of mehndi, Soma was almost angry with himself by the end, when he still hadn’t been able to give out anything except the crooked curls. And now he was watching with admiration how, with Agni’s help, they was forming a picturesque floral pattern.

"This is a lotus," Agni explained with a smile, meeting the prince's interested gaze. "It symbolizes purity, nobility and innocence," _just like you,_ "and looks great in any combination".

Soma nodded curiously. It seems like his khansama is able to do everything in the world.

"To tell you the truth, Agni," slipped out, "there is another reason for this thing with mehndi".

"What reason?" asked Agni, thoroughly drawing every petal one by one. Not being completely sure, whether it’s right time to talk about it, Soma delayed his response for a few seconds. When he’d finally took a deep breath, Agni smiled warmly and said:

"Don’t worry. I understand perfectly what's the matter," Soma exhaled sharply and stared at him, his pupils dilated with bewilderment. Seeing the prince's confusion, Agni added quickly: "You miss your home in India, right?"

Soma chuckled, almost disappointed. No, definitely no. This is probably the only thing he never thought about since he stepped on the English land, not once.

"My home is here," he blurted out, watching Agni, whilst the brush was smoothly flowing down to his wrist, tracing a perfectly round sun circle on it, with fancy curls as its rays. "There, in India, there is nothing left that I could miss".

That meant: _everything that was making my house a real home, I’d brought with me._

"It's better here than at home," Soma continued thoughtfully. The brush in Agni's hand froze for a moment, and he himself gave the prince an astonished look. 

"It's strange to hear this from Your Highness," he muttered, puzzled. "May I ask why did you prefer foggy England to your home country?"

Looking at the servant, Soma immediately gave him the answer.

 _"The Sun_ shines brighter here".

Throwing a glance at the window – just the same impenetrable clouds on the grey sky could be seen – Agni for real begins to worry about the health of his master. Seriously, there is practically no sun, why then...

"Beautiful," he heard the prince's quiet whisper. Turning his attention back to Soma, Agni saw him admiring the finished painting on his forearm, with a big charming smile. "I want to draw the same!" He declared, inspired.

Critically assessing the resulted picture, Agni took a pause before answering.

"If henna was of high quality, the drawing will get away in a few weeks," he said thoughtfully, "then it will be possible to paint a new one if you wish..."

"I wish to do it right now!" Soma stated. "I'll practice on you!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm, but then immediately stopped and asked, "You don’t mind, Agni, do you?"

The latter became nervous: he suddenly made an unwitting and completely impermissible association with the wedding ritual, one of the most important parts of which was the henna ceremony, when both fiancés are covering their hands with mehndi. Having rewarded himself with the cruelest mental flagellation for such offensive thoughts, Agni threw them away and, habitually smiling, rolled up a sleeve of sherwani on his left hand and handed it to the prince. The latter rubbed his hands in anticipation and, grabbing a brush, began to copy the ornament, just invented by Agni. Observing the prince’s efforts, Agni noted with surprise that now he was drawing much better.

"You are improving yourself, Master Soma," he said with a smile. Without getting distracted from his work, the young man grinned.

"Sure!" he exclaimed, enthusiastically leading a brush along the skin of his confidant. Looking up for just a second, Soma winked at Agni. "Because I'm learning from you."

Agni didn’t know what to say to the prince. Instead of it, he – just as enchanted as Soma a few minutes earlier – watched the baroque patterns blossom under the brush. His master studies quickly and very successfully, indeed. Agni seriously was seized with the idea to hire a few teachers for the prince here in England: with his enquiring mind, he’s able to learn everything in the world. Turning his gaze to Soma, Agni saw a wide, radiant smile, which melted his heart for the millionth time: the prince was definitely more than happy to learn something new today. There was a little difference between drawings on the Soma’s and Agni’s forearms; only instead of round solar disk Soma accurately put the gracefully curved crescent on Agni’s wrist.

Agni barely managed to suppress a shocked sigh, once again catching the symbolism that made his heart jump and soul hurt. His prince was given the name of the patron of the moon – and now the sparkling crescent was drawn on his wrist, right where was beating his pulse, the spark of life which was completely dedicated to this young creature with the name of the lunar deity. And at the same time Prince Soma, of course, since the first time they met, was the only Sun in the sky, illuminating his days and spreading incomparable warmth all over here.

Agni would be shocked much more, if he learns that Soma now thought exactly in the same way. Agni is fire, warmth, gentle sun – just like the one that was shining on his own wrist – in whose rays the prince was glad to bask every day. And at the same time he is a moonlight, with soft silvery strands of his hair and magnificent sparkling in the depth of his silvery eyes; he’s a guiding thread, carefully leading Soma on his way.

Agni only smiled when the prince had frowned with disappointment, making a blob right in the middle of an elegant crescent. Driven by the desire to support this passion for self-perfection in his master – and by the usual tenderness towards him, Agni gently took Soma's hand in his own.

"Let me show you, my prince," the velvety voice was radiating even more tenderness than usual, than permitted. Realizing this, Agni lowered his eyes in embarrassment. Gently holding the prince’s palm, he neatly stroked the almost painted-over crescent with a brush, fixing his master’s mistake. _Poor my prince,_ he thought, counting Soma’s fastening heartbeats, _he’s worrying so much about the slightest mistake!_ That was just his Soma. _I must support him._ To his own heartbeat Agni didn’t pay any attention.

"Well, that’s it," he finished and let go of prince's hand. "The final pattern looks amazing. You are making phenomenal progress, Master Soma".

For some time Soma was simply admiring their common creation, averting his eyes from Agni’s hand to his own and back. Then his face lit up with a satisfied smile.

"Thank you," he said softly, and before the servant could answer, Soma behaved in even more unexpected way – he quickly leaned forward and gently kissed Agni’s cheek. Sighing in amazement, the latter immediately reached out his hand to touch the kissed place; and incredible awe could be read in this gesture. Watching his khansama blush rapidly while looking at the master with his eyes wide open, Soma blushed himself – but the smile didn’t leave his face even for a second. Yes, that was just his Agni.

"Wonderful morning, isn’t it?" – as if nothing in particular had happened, the prince exclaimed, stretching out in his armchair. "It's just the time for your wonderful tea, right?"

Having recovered from his amazement, Agni smiled politely and with a habitual gesture bowed his head. His cheeks were still burning, so he quickly rose to his feet, and hastily went off to carry out the assignment. Seeing him to the door with a radiant gaze, the prince mentally praised himself for the brilliant idea with mehndi. Now, looking at the same golden patterns entwining the forearms of master and servant, Soma knew that another thin bridge had just been built between them, and the tiniest steps along it, sooner or later, will help them overcome that vast distance that lies between the Moon and its Sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I don’t really like this chapter. I needed an intermission between the first and the final parts, so here it is, and maybe someday I’ll completely rewrite it. So sorry if I’ve disappointed you with this part, but I am always ready for taking suggestions! And the same thing about mistakes – please please please tell me about all of them! (Actually, I worry about articles - are they in the right places, aren't there too many of them...)
> 
> Well, about the whole poetry thing - ugh, I just wanted Agni to sing a lullaby to Soma, and vice versa. Maybe these poems do not represent them as much as possible, but I chose them because here is used the pronoun “thee”, so they both indirectly address each other equally – and affectionately. 
> 
> If you’re interested – here’s these poems put to music:
> 
> Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (the poem that Soma chose) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfrSDevqOwg 
> 
> Sonnet 43 by Elisabeth Barrett Browning (the poem that Agni chose) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm421vnH7a0 (choir version but anyway amazing).


	3. Chapter 3. The fire and the immortality

His master doesn’t like to be unhelpful.

He hates it with all his heart.

Every single time, just when he was made to realize that he was useless in some way, a huge painful despair began scratching and clawing him from the inside, and it was gnawing him until the salvation came as a warm embrace: initially – Meena’s, later – Agni’s.

But _this_ time there wasn’t any escape.

Despair gave way to genuine madness – unimaginable strong and horribly inevitable – when the timid, apologetic smile of his precious khansama disappeared behind the door, the sharp clap of which ushered in the beginning of the end.

No. Not this. Anything but this.

_“AGNI!!!”_ Soma pounced on the tightly slammed door with his fists. This seven times cursed piece of wood has just cut him in half – and the other half has stayed there, outside. And – not a single chance. Choking on his own tears, the prince was frantically begging his servant to let him out. Unfortunately – he knew his Agni too well to be naive to believe that he would listen to his pleas. But desperation, reckless desperation that was covering him from his head to his toes, was pushing him forward in an unbearable desire to break through this last obstacle. Let anything happen with me, but _you must not be alone there!_

“Prince Soma...”

The bitterest taste of blood on his lips – _his_ blood – caused deep terror; the prince's screams became louder, and the punches of bleeding fists on the soulless wood – more painful and deaf. No use.

“I, Agni... Your khansama...”

_...my faithful companion, my dearest of friends, my closest person in the whole damn world, my own whole damn world_ – these words were thumping in his head like beating of the alarm, but Soma could only helplessly tear himself up. Already knowing that the door won’t open anymore – at least, now – Soma could not and did not want to accept this. No matter – either Agni will release him, or he will hide himself in the closet, if only he would be near, if only he would not leave...

“...was very happy.”

_Was?!_

Soma feels that he’s falling into the abyss.

“What do you mean, "was", Agni?!” young man yelled furiously, again and again collapsing his clenched fists on the door that obstinately didn’t want to give in. "Agni, what the hell are you doing?" – _he will let this happen, he will definitely allow this to happen!_ "Don’t you dare, Agni!" Don’t dare!” tearing off his voice and choking with tears, “Agni, I... Please, I...”

A sharp sound of a steel piercing through the flesh immediately torn the space and time. Through the tightly closed door, the damned ruthless blade stabbed Soma’s own heart, forcing him to freeze, bleeding with metaphorical blood and swallowing bitter tears, on the threshold of inevitable awareness.

_They are killing him here and now._

_And he can’t do any. single. thing._

Instantly, he had his whole life flash like lightning before his eyes: here’s Soma and Agni, happy and carefree, are cooking curry for the poor children and laughing while playing with food – it was Soma who had began it, of course. Here’s Agni picking him up and swirling around – so happy that his prince returned from college. Here’s Agni preparing his master for the first performance on the stage – and then furtively wipes a tear of pride, watching him from the audience. Here’s yesterday evening when they both are just sitting near the fireplace, cuddling and watching the old Christmas cards and...

No.

_“NO!!!”_

A desperate howl made the thin walls of his current shelter shudder – and drowned out, fortunately for Soma, the heart-rending sounds of six new stabs. Eventually the young prince slid down powerlessly onto the floor, his face pressed against the cold marble.

At that very moment, he would have given all the riches of this world in order to turn back time – at least a couple of days ago – and go all the way back to India with Agni, just as he wanted.

At that very moment, he would have torn the murderer apart with his own blood-covered hands, if only he had the opportunity to break out from his dark shelter.

At that very moment, he would have thrown his own life at the feet of anyone who could keep his dearest person away from gates of the kingdom of the dead.

One part of his mind was still desperately clinging to the idea that Agni could still be alive, and that's why Soma went on with his desperate attempts, on the verge of insanity screaming Agni’s name – as if he was still here, as if he could still hear.

_His last ray of light should not fade away._

All the strength instantly left the prince, when he stopped screaming for a second – and heard nothing but the dead silence in response. He almost physically felt how his heart squeezing and bleeding, Soma howled bitterly, consumed by a burning agony.

Emptiness.

Pitch-black, suffocating emptiness was all that he felt around and inside himself. Like all the contents of his heart in heavy, sticky drops were slowly flowing down on the cold marble, mixing with a pool of blood – that blood which covered his clothes and even more the soul. If so, Soma would prefer to fall headlong into this deep emptiness, recklessly awaiting his own doom – either from murderers who would get to him any minute; or from his own grief, which was cutting him more painfully than all the knives in the world; or from this sticky oppressive emptiness – no matter what. If Soma even has another choice, he doesn’t want to know about its existence. Agni is no more, which means – he chooses emptiness.

***

The emptiness suddenly scattered by a thin ray of light from behind the slightly opened door. Deprived of any hope, Soma even didn’t notice it initially. Reluctantly lifting his bloodshot eyelids, he recognized _familiar_ silhouette in the strip of light that spilled through a narrow gap.

Ciel.

Gritting his teeth, Soma felt how his devastated heart is filling with fury. Hearing the voice of the one who entered – _worried? oh, really?!_ – Soma dashed headfirst into the boy, not completely sure that he won’t break the latter’s neck.

"He is breathing."

Short and hasty phrase instantly knocked out the ground from under the feet.

The heart seemed to revive again: it was beating desperately, like never before.

Crashing to his knees, Soma burst into a desperate yell:

_“SAVE HIM!!!”_

For Soma Sebastian sometimes seemed to be one of those horrific demons that Mother Kali fought against, and inspired genuine fear into the young prince. But right now the latter was ready to obediently fall at his feet, plead, beg, _sell his soul,_ finally, if necessary – only if he would return Agni to life.

“What can I do?!” his hoarse voice sounded like crow cawing. Sebastian, having rushed to the stairs to the second floor, carrying unconscious Agni, paused for a second.

"Stay where you are," and, already running away, over his shoulder: "And please, do not do anything silly."

Soma deeply hated his own helplessness at this moment.

_This_ just can’t happen again.

On the verge of collapse, he felt a light touch on his shoulder. Little Ciel, breathing heavily and – what is this? – really sobbing? Rage took over the prince anew; he desperately growled, almost like an animal, and, jumping to his feet, slapped the boy for the second time. His hit was so strong that young earl simply collapsed on the floor – but, strangely, didn’t even try to get up. Soma had never seen this boy even in a remotely similar state, and for the first time Ciel was speaking fast and sometimes even incoherently, with a worried expression – no usual haughtiness. And – devil knows why – looking at this sorrowful face, Soma trusts Ciel – though, maybe his little friend actually bears another name.  
It takes at least half an hour, during which Soma mentally died and reborn several times, before Sebastian finally appeared again before him and Ciel. Always steady and tireless, right now he, the perfect butler of the Phantomhive house, looked unusually tired. Soma felt himself standing on the edge of the abyss, and on this man – or not really a man – depended now, either he fall down and stay forever in the darkness or miraculously survive.

Sebastian exhaled and said, looking at the prince:

"Take care of him, Lord Soma. He... " _are you really the devil himself, why do you take forever to answer?!_ “will be fine.”

Soma couldn’t stand on his feet anymore. Ciel, clumsily trying to keep his friend from falling, could not hold him and collapsed to the floor after him. Sebastian sighed again, shaking his head condescendingly.

"Save your strength, Your Highness. You will need it to care for your faithful butler.”

Helping Soma and Ciel to get back on their feet, Sebastian looked distracted and seriously puzzled. When he had finished, he turned to see his young master.

"My lord," strange, half-doomed look, "we need to hurry."

The young aristocrat instantly became serious and stolid again; the earl and the butler vanished in a flash. Soma didn’t pay any attention to them; excited, he rushed into the room from which Sebastian had just come out.

The noise of the door swung open and hit the wall, thundered all over the mansion. Soma's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes filled with burning tears again. Seeing Agni – invariably strong, invincible, and able to do impossible things – wounded and helpless was not just unusual, but even unnatural. So much that Soma’s heart is writhing in pain, and his hands are trembling from the anger which is overwhelming his body and soul. _They will pay dearly for this._ Someday, just a little later.

Breathlessly, Soma stared at him without blinking, and could inhale only when he saw how his attendant’s chest faintly and slowly, but evenly rising. The faded gold in the prince's eyes sparkled again for a second.

The first thing that caught his eye – his khansama was unusually pale. Soma winced with his whole body, remembering what an unimaginable amount of blood Agni had lost. The whole upper part of his body was completely bandaged, and his right eye was hidden under the neat eyepatch. Still watching him worryingly, Soma felt almost physical pain in his own eye, passing through the pain that Agni probably felt.

With quiet, careful steps, the prince approached his servant's bed. Tears are flowing down his cheeks and staying on his lips curved in a smile, when he gently takes Agni's right hand into his left palm, feeling familiar warmth – some time ago he had even lost hope to feel it again. The golden mehndi pattern had been almost erased from Agni’s skin, but the outline of the moon crescent on his wrist remained surprisingly clear. Carefully stroking the drawing with his thumb, Soma felt a faint but steady pulse – and his own heart filled with the life pouring into him anew.

Outside the window, the incessant storm was still wrecking, but heavy clouds above Soma's soul swiftly dissipated, giving way to the timid rays of sunshine. Letting his last hot tear fall down, the prince pressed the palm of his faithful khansama to his own cheek and gently kissed the pale fingers – just the way Agni did it to him once.

And so, sitting on the bed of his faithful companion and clinging to him firmly, afraid to let go, Soma clearly realizes that those flimsy bridges, which he slowly, brick by brick, tried to build between himself and Agni, turned to dust in a moment.

At that very moment when Agni took over the bullets destined for his prince.

At that very moment when Agni realized that he won’t last even a couple of minutes, if he at least once again threws himself in front of his master, but die immediately of a heart attack if he allows the attackers to hurt his prince.

At that very moment when Soma himself would prefer to risk his life, either to save Agni or to perish _with_ him – on his knees begging him to open the ill-fated door.

At that very moment – all the boundaries between them broke forever.

And not even because Agni actually repaid the old debt to his prince – in response to the saving his life then, on the square – and now they were some kind of even. No – all the debts, empty and ephemeral, were discarded – along with their former lives. Each of them willingly rejected his previous role, caring just about what turned out to be the only thing that was important. Agni, the epitome of a butler, the one who managed to be compared with the demon himself, ignores his master’s orders and rudely tosses him on the floor – only in order to save his precious life. Soma throws away the role of the master, falling on his knees before Agni and begging him to save his own life, which of course is as precious. Imagine that.

From now on no more metaphorical bridges are needed. That horrible abyss that was laying between them, have disappeared forever. What happened today, despite all the tragedy, made them equal forever.

Grasping the edge of the blanket to cover Agni carefully, Soma winced in pain that pierced his right arm to the very shoulder. His adrenaline had already got down and stopped to disturb the blood, and the palm affected by the gunshot wound began to remind of itself. Having made a silent, painful groan, Soma reluctantly rose from Agni’s bed. He needs to find bandages. And the strength to survive for an indefinitely long time until his faithful companion regains consciousness.

Despite his growing pain, young prince was smiling.

There is no place for emptiness in their life anymore.

***

The first thing that Agni felt when he woke up was _serenity._ Soft light of the restrained London sun, pouring through the opened curtain, tenderly caressed him with the warmth, unusual for the severe December weather. Agni hardly even had time to enjoy it, when the sudden fear made him jump on the bed: _it's daylight already, and I'm still in bed, the prince will definitely think the worst of me!_

As soon as he moved, the sharp pain appeared. Not being ready for it, Agni hissed through his teeth. There was stabbing pain in the left side, it was hurting to lay on the back, and his whole body was engulfed in weakness: he had to make some efforts even just to sit up on the bed.

And then, out of the blue, the sequence of memories of an unfortunate attack on the townhouse flashed in his head. Agni's heart froze, skipping a few beats – _oh dear, how much time had passed?_ And he didn’t have time to find out where the murderers had gone, what they needed, and _my prince, what happened to my prince?!_

The answer to the most important question was found instantly. Turning to the side, Agni found his master next to him: he was quietly dozing, sitting on the floor and laying his head on the edge of the bed, just as he did that day when they both were taking care of the ill Lord Ciel. Agni felt how his body is filling with life again.

Prince Soma definitely has a heart of gold. Agni doesn’t even consider himself worthy of his prince’s concern about him.

Looking around, he noticed another curious detail. Everywhere – on the floor, on the bed, even on the walls – were visible big and small paper sheets with the pictures of various deities: here’s longhaired dancing Shiva, here’s peaceful snow-white Saraswati, here’s surrounded by beautiful flowers Lakshmi. Agni smiled, feeling how his strength and will to live slowly returning to him: his prince have always believed that if he draw a portrait of some deity, they will fulfill one of his dearest wishes as a gratitude. And, judging by the fact that all the drawings were located around the patient's bed... _my God, my dearest master, are you really that much worrying about me?_

One of the drawings – the one that laid at the foot of the bed, next to the sleeping prince – drew Agni’s attention because there were depicted two figures, not one. Leaning forward and extending his arm (the wound in his side reminded of itself with the pain again), Agni picked up the sheet and pulled it closer. Having looked at the drawing, he was even more shocked than before. From this picture, not the gods looked at the astonished Agni, but those two, who, having received their names after the ancient deities, became the embodiment of divinity in the eyes of each other. By easily recognizable and incomparable prince's hand, there were drawn Agni and Soma, widely smiling and holding hands.

And it was, perhaps, far more sincere than any prayers.

Tears of joy that were flowing out of his eyes were burning his eyelids, but Agni couldn’t stop smiling, looking at his extraordinary prince with the genuine adoration. Whispering a silent thanksgiving prayer, he weightlessly caressed Soma's soft hair – and immediately froze, puzzled.

Something is different now.

Such a strange feeling.

Agni took a closer look at his master. Only by now, he noticed that now Soma looked different than usual. No golden jewels, just simple leisure wear, his hair down and even matted a bit. Usually he slept peacefully, but now he seems restless: his fingers crumple the sheet, his eyebrows constantly shift to the bridge of the nose, and his lips slightly move: perhaps, according to the rhythm of the unspoken words.

Less than anything, he resembled now even the most loyal _master,_ sympathetic to his _servant's_ condition.

_My prince, what a golden heart you have._

Again, frowning in his sleep, Soma began to murmur indistinctly. Trying to understand what he was saying, Agni leaned closer to him. It was difficult to make out any word, but after a while Agni opened his eyes in amazement, clearly hearing his own name. Overflowing with tenderness and affection for his prince – quite a familiar and even ordinary state for him – Agni smiled softly and lovingly stroked the young man’s cheek. _My prince, I don’t know how and thanks to whom I managed to survive. But just because of you and only for you I can live._

Flinching from his touch, Soma moved in a dream, and then slowly lifted his head. Looking around the room with a sleepy look, he wide opened his eyes and gasped loudly when he saw his khansama fully conscious.

"A-... Agni!" He breathed. His lips trembled, and tears appeared in the corners of his eyes. Agni had already mentally scolded himself for having dared to frighten his prince in such a way – but then he suddenly attacked him with desperate embraces, knocking him on his back. And although Agni was secretly flattered by such an expression of... compassion? from his young master, he couldn’t resist the short hiss, caused by sharp pain.

Soma recoiled – now really frightened.

“Sorry!” He whispered, without looking away. Agni anxiously stretched out his arms and gently stroked his shoulder with soothing, almost weightless movements.

"It's alright, Your Highness."

Smiling through his tears, Soma is incomparably relieved to hear this long-awaited voice and feel these affectionate touches. Now – indeed! – everything will be _alright._ Just like it should be. Just like they deserve. On his lips blossomed the most beautiful of all the smiles in the world – at least, Agni thought so.

“Of course!” Soma exclaimed with a grin. Agni thought that at that moment his master's eyes glittered with a thousand of shining suns that could light and warm the whole wide world. “After all, you’re alive and here for me again.”

Up to this point, Agni was carefully trying to choose the right words to thank his master for his care – but now the power of speech left him, and he froze, simply admiring these shining eyes, glittering so brightly for him alone, surely able to outshine the sun itself. Without ceasing to smile, Soma lightly caressed Agni’s head; for the latter, this gesture always seemed akin to a divine blessing.

"But when you get better, I'll definitely say how angry I am about all that you've done."

Agni's heart immediately froze, and the pupils widened from the icy wave of horror. _Did I... fail?!.._ He vowed to protect him, even with his own dead body, but in any case, he couldn’t be able to know what happened after he lost consciousness. Once again, Agni felt the blows of seven steel blades – only this time simultaneously and straight in the heart.

"My prince, did I... really..." he collected all the courage he had to squeeze out these words, "did they… reach you after all?" He said in a painful whisper; and such pain was reflected in his eyes, as if all his wounds began to bleed profusely. His prince was undoubtedly alive and probably healthy, and yet – all of a sudden, at the time when his faithful companion could no longer protect him, did something terrible happen to him? Seven knives began zealously shredding his heart into pieces.

It was a truly blessed moment when the prince opened his eyes, shocked, and vigorously shook his head.

"Agni, what are you... No! Of course no!” Soma hastily mumbled, his eyes fixed on his attendant, whose face was now illuminated with pure hope. "I don’t know what you did to them... and what they did to you, but... For goodness’sake, Agni, _why?!”_ He exclaimed, jumping up excitedly from the bed, but then immediately dropped back. "You knew that you were going to die," he said, unexpectedly quietly, afraid of his own words: the only thought that all of this could be true was freezing him from the inside. What was even more awful – Agni looked at his master with the horribly calm expression, thereby confirming all of his conjectures. "Are you really afraid of me so much that you thought I'd be angry if you could not protect me?"

At the end of the sentence, the prince's speech was just a quite whispering. Deeply inhaling, Soma held his breath, trying to keep calm – _Sebastian said that Agni is still weak, and shouldn’t be worried about anything._ And then he was embraced by a blessed serenity – when his left palm was captured by the two other, warm and caring hands.

"The only fear that you can instill in me, my prince," said Agni, stroking his master's fingers with light, pacifying movements, "is the fear that you can suffer, one way or another. And you are absolutely right: I don’t have a feeling that would be stronger.”

_Except maybe..._

"Then you should have thought about how much suffering you would bring me with your death," Soma lifted his head, shivering from the memories of the icy emptiness.  
"I'm honored that you appreciate me so much, master Soma," Agni said softly, but firmly. “But it just doesn’t matter. Your life is incomparably more valuable.” His lips stretched in a gentle smile. "You are so young, my prince, and an unforgivable sin would have laid upon my shoulders, if I had let your life cut short at its very beginning."

Soma narrowed his eyes, squeezing the palm of his attendant more tightly. A wave of sincere adoration swept through Agni’s body.

"How could I deprive the world of your smile, which is able to illuminate the whole world and melt even the iciest heart? I would be happy to give my life to save this treasure," Agni said, looking lovingly into his master's eyes. Never before had he gone so far in showing his feelings for the prince. The latter, looking at him in amazement, seemed to stop his breathing. Immediately embarrassed, Agni dropped his eyes and continued, trying to get rid of excessive tenderness in his voice. "I was complying with my sacred duty for you, my prince. And the true khansama – _the one whom you deserve, the one that I have always wanted to become for you_ – was just obliged to do that!”

Soma sighed heavily, forcing Agni to raise his eyebrows, confused. Again, the blank wall between them – again, he stubbornly doesn’t want to open the most important door. Watching his Sun darkens, Agni reached for him, wanting to pat him on the head, but Soma intercepted his hand, forcing his Sun to intertwine their fingers. Although Soma once told Agni that he was given a new life – his khansama for some insane reason persistently didn’t want to start living it, completely dissolving in the life of his so-called master instead. What was mostly surprising – it was his own choice. And if at that moment it pleased Soma and even flattered his vanity – then now young man only wanted to save his attendant from the made-up need to sacrifice his life for the sake of the master – actually, he could be called so only in the thoughts of Agni, for a long time now.

"If they had killed me, I would have suffered for only a few minutes," Soma countered. "If they had killed you," Soma winced, remembering the _emptiness,_ "then I'd have suffered for the rest of my life. What would it be like – poisoned by the realization that it is paid for with the blood of the person closest to me? And what's the point then, that you were so zealously saving it?”

Agni sighed sadly, his head bowed.

"My prince, I’m begging you. My life is dedicated to you until the very last minute,” _you are my whole life,_ “and is meant to protect you, no matter what. I must be and always am ready to pay any price for it. From the very first day of my serving to you, this has become an indispensable rule for your humble servant," Agni's voice warmed again against his will. “I am endlessly grateful to you for being beside me now, and infinitely moved by your loyalty to me – even when I'm not worth it, but...”

Agni stopped short when he saw how his master's eyebrows moved sharply to the bridge of his nose. Soma sincerely couldn’t understand – why, after _what they both experienced,_ his khansama still stubbornly didn’t want to take the last step over the already disappeared abyss. He used to devote himself to his master, but was completely unable to accept the reciprocal gift, and never noticed all that had been handed to him on a gold platter. Enough, Soma wants to crash down this wall, built from the bricks of public pressure, burden of past memories and blind obedience to the so-called savior, held together by a senseless passion for self-denial.

All the limits of patience are now surpassed. Sorry, Sebastian, but your request is not destined to be executed.

“You know what, Agni?!” The prince jumped up off the bed and put his hands on his hips. Agni watched him with a worried look. "That’s really awful on your part!" Soma blurted out and, as soon as Agni opened his mouth to protest, stretched forward his palm, gesturing him to keep silence. "Every minute of your life was devoted to me. You could easily escape from me to freedom – and I’d let you go, and could do it again! – but you preferred to stay: who else but you could do this?! For me alone you have changed so much that it's even hard to believe. Everything you ever did was for me!” Tears rolled down the prince’s cheeks from both sides. “Finally – you’ve nearly died, saving my life – although I was _begging_ you to take care of _yours_ – and you still think that you are not worthy of my love?!

For the first few seconds, Agni firmly considered these words to be a consequence of his long-term being unconscious. All that he heard seemed an auditory hallucination, no doubt.

"Your... what?" – he whispered uncertainly, being terribly afraid of his own assumption – and at the same time fearing that he was deceived by his own ears.  
In response, Soma dashed forward to embrace him, tightly wrapping his trembling hands around his attendant’s neck and pressing his wet cheek to Agni’s cheek. Stunned more than ever, Agni could only gasp. Taking his inaction for rejection, Soma frowned and, resting his hands on Agni's shoulders, with utmost caution, pulled away.

“In _those_ very moments,” looking at the face of his attendant, the prince continued persistently, “you were not my _servant.”_

Agni looks down, remembering how the bullets that hit his back instantly burned in his mind an indestructible oath to put his own life to save the one who have always held it in his hands. 

"And I was not your _master."_

Agni looks up, remembering Soma helplessly reaching for him with a bloodied hand, as if in a powerless please to stop. With the fingers of his bandaged palm Soma carefully touched the scar across the Agni’s eye, and the latter instantly lost his ability to speak, realizing what means this gesture of his... is it really right to say – "master"?

And his prince, who had never changed his straightforwardness, could only wonder how clearly he can understand now all the things which were chaotically swirling in his head for all the time that he and Agni knew each other. That fateful day’s horrible events surprisingly put everything into place – when both of them, by themselves, rejected their long-established roles of master and servant. Without any thought and so naturally that they didn’t even notice. In that short moment, both of them were finally driven by the only right, only true state that swept away any thoughts of their own salvation, leaving an inexhaustible, almost reckless zeal to protect the most precious person – or to fall into nothing after him. And from now on the only power existed over each of them. The one that could push them under the murderous blades and into the dark emptiness – and then immediately pull back into the blazing daylight.

"I'm selfish," Soma breathed. “Even when I was sure about my love for other people – in fact, most of all I loved myself. I liked to think that I was loved and appreciated, and never tried to wonder whether there is anything in me to love and appreciate. I sought so blindly to earn the attention and love of those who were not even capable of these feelings, that for an inexcusably long time I could not notice the treasure shining nearby. Only your love, Agni, I have never even tried to win.”

"My prince, you don’t need to..." Agni began, but Soma gently pressed a finger against his lips.

"I know, Agni. And I know that you didn’t even think about getting my love. But…” Soma breathed deeper, “I love you, in every possible way. And I can’t allow you to put yourself lower than me," he said, staring affectionately at the wide-opened silvery eyes. "You know, it’s even disrespectful to me: how could I love a man who doesn’t deserve me, right?" Smiling, Soma slid his hand down and cupped Agni's cheek. “So, what do you say?”

Agni could not utter any single word. What his prince was saying seemed to be unreal. God, was it even possible for him, a simple servant, to allow himself the seditious thought that his beloved master could someday share with him even the tiniest part of that inexhaustible, all-consuming love that Agni carries in his heart? The former support points of his world instantly turned to dust, but now he was being kept from falling – more tightly than ever before – by an unprecedented tenderness in the golden eyes. Clinging for it, living through it and ready to return this pure love tenfold, Agni felt almost a genuine desperation. Like a bitterly cold wind in the middle of hot day, the sudden fear enveloped him: what to do now with this unexpected happiness that fell into his arms. How to keep it – so fragile and tender, reaching for him with all its caring rays. Having a destructive power – how to keep it unscathed. Being afraid to do something and at the same time fearful of being inactive, Agni couldn’t think of anything better than to carefully take Soma's palm with both hands and cautiously kiss his wrist.

"I’ve never doubted that that's why the immortality was called by your name," he said gently. “You can breathe life even into the dead and lost to this world soul of the criminal. Being drowned in fleeting false pleasures, this unhappy man was fed up with his own life to such an extent that even the approaching death was met by him with an indifferent emptiness in the dark heart." Soma looked down and Agni smiled warmly: even now his prince worries about him more than Arshad did worry about himself on the day of execution. "You, like the Sun itself, instantly filled this emptiness with your radiance," Agni continued, not concealing the infinite tenderness in his voice anymore, "and that blessed day I found an endless source of happiness. But I was afraid to even imagine that one day my precious prince would make me _so_ happy.”

"That's the problem," Soma grumbled, unable to restrain himself. Clambering up onto the bed, he laid down next to Agni, not taking his eyes off his attendant. The corners of Agni's mouth fell down, and now the expression of his face reflected hidden fear. Soma understood him. He himself would be afraid. Before. Now he’s laughing at the face of his former fears, and want Agni to laugh in unison with him.

"Don’t you think that after everything we've suffered, is it just foolish to be afraid of anything else?" having received a gentle smile and a glance full of boundless love in response, Soma moved closer to Agni. His heart, overfilled with emotions, was about to get out of his chest, but Soma knew that he shouldn’t show Agni his nervousness to help him cope with his own. "I know what to do, so that you won’t be afraid anymore," he whispered, reducing the distance between their faces to a very insignificant one. Quickly licking his parched lips, Soma closed his eyes and moved forward, gently touching Agni's pale lips. His touch was very light and weightless, but all his body was instantly pierced by a sweet tremor, and a single tear came out from under the closed eyelids – _precious gods, what if this moment had never come?_ Feeling how Agni flinched in awe, Soma softly stroked his attendant’s cheek – _it's alright. Much better than it could have been. It couldn’t be better._ – and, opening his eyes for a second, jumped back abruptly. “Hey! Hey, Agni, don’t even think about losing consciousness again!” frightened, Soma gently shook his attendant’s shoulders: the latter looked so shocked that, it seemed, could faint any second.

But never before Agni felt so firmly standing on the ground, as now – bed-ridden, in the firm embrace of his prince. Soma was absolutely right – all the fears disappeared in an instant.

Raising himself up on the bed, Soma gently took Agni’s left hand and pressed it to his own chest. Soma’s rapid heartbeat and Agni's rapid pulse seemed to melt and merge together at this moment.

"Look what you're doing to me," the prince says softly and tenderly. Agni doesn’t look at their intertwined fingers, but into Soma's golden eyes, in the depths of which the lights of happiness were dancing. "How could you even think for a single second that it was wrong?"

All the boundless love that lives in Agni’s heart reflected in a tender smile – he can’t even doubt now that his prince is happy. And all of the actions that can bring him happiness – are right. So, in a single second Agni realized: the immeasurable happiness that has fallen into his hands will never escape anywhere, because he and his prince are holding it together – and they will definitely keep it.

"Your foolish prince let himself be silent for too long," Soma murmured. A new tear slides down his cheek as he thought that all these words could remain unspoken. "You couldn’t believe it for a long time, but now I'm telling and showing you how important you are to me. Are there still doubts, Agni?”

Soma loved this name, loved to call his khansama by his name. It’s funny, but he invented it quite by accident – simply thinking about how to call his new servant and remembering the names of the gods known to him, the prince chose the most beautiful, in his view. Agni, the personification of the sacred flame. That very fire that can be destroying but warming, turning into ashes but healing.

The answer for Soma’s question is obvious. With one affectionate glance Agni could answer more eloquently than with the thousands of words.

"Rather, the heavens will fall to the ground, than I dare to doubt in you," he breathed in a whisper, not wanting to break the sanctity of this moment with the loud voice. "And I’m begging you not to say such terrible things about yourself. You are wise enough to change a person’s fate with only a few words, to shed an undying light into his soul. You are truly irreplaceable for this world.”

After all, Soma chose the most right name for his Agni. An inextinguishable, eternal flame, not afraid of any infernal torment. And, of course, it can’t be dimmed by the streams of tears, flowing out of the eyes of the touched prince. On the contrary, all the tears dried quickly, warmed by inexhaustible heat, when Agni gently embraced Soma and pressed him against to his chest. And froze with delight, when the prince, his face illuminated by a bright smile, dragged him into a new kiss, and now Agni could find the courage to kiss him back. These moments, priceless and, of course, long-awaited by both of them, lasted for a whole eternity, and when their lips parted, they could hardly breathe with happiness. Unable to pull away from each other, newly sweethearts simply spent some time in each other’s arms, touching their foreheads and smiling with the foolish and happy smiles. And when they simultaneously opened their eyes and their enchanted glances met for the first time – both of them equally blushed.

Walking side by side, they passed their three steps towards immortality – and there is no way back.

Comfortably lying on Agni's chest, Soma suddenly remembered about one more, of course, important thing.

"I know why we got into trouble that day: you didn’t wear your medallion!" he muttered with a playful outrage. Agni smiled with a corner of his mouth.

"I beg your pardon," he said, not letting a note of usual humility into his voice. “Actually, I was going to clean both our medallions right after breakfast.”

Soma's face clouded: he remembered how he had found their talismans in the kitchen and was sobbing over them for a quarter of an hour, afraid that the very thing that these jewels were supposed to embody was about to end. He smiled, realizing with indescribable delight, that he was wrong at that moment. Soma went through his pockets, then took out the golden medallion and solemnly put it around Agni's neck.

"That’s the way," he concluded. "My love should always be with you. To protect you.” Before Agni, touched to the core, managed to burst into tears of happiness, the prince took out of his pocket a second medallion – the silver one – and handed it to his loved one. With all the tenderness and accuracy, that only he was capable of, he put the medallion on the neck of his prince. The latter, beaming, followed every movement of his hands.

"Your love is the most precious treasure that can only exist in this world for me," Agni said, pressing his hand to his chest. "I'll do anything to keep it. As for my love, it has always been with you and it will be with you forever. As your faithful servant...”

"I won’t let you be my servant anymore."

This sharp phrase, slipping from Soma's lips, reminded Agni of what he still was afraid to believe.

"This is my last order," Soma said, softening his voice. "I ..." He winced, recalling in his mind these moments when he was desperately crashing his fists against the door, "I don’t want any single thing to separate us anymore."

_All the boundaries between them are broken._

It will be difficult to get used to this. But if that’s what Soma desires – no – if that’s what Soma and Agni desire, so shall it be.

"As you wish, my..." meeting Soma's stern look, Agni stopped immediately. "Oh... so how am I supposed to call you now?" He asked with a smile. The prince pondered lazily, pursing his lips and frowning. To be honest, right now he didn’t want to occupy his thoughts with anything other than beautiful dreams of a new happy life, whose doors just hospitably opened for them both.

"I'll think of it later," Soma finally gave up. "And also, Agni," he raised his head, meeting the gentle gaze of his former khansama. "You called me your Sun, but do you know what the point of the Sun is? It glows in the sky not for its own sake, not just to glitter for its own pleasure. His sacred duty is to illuminate all the dark corners on whole Earth, to shine a light to those who need it. Without this, the Sun would be unnecessary; that's why it exists – because in the world,” with eyes closed, Soma pressed his cheek to Agni's, “you can find a lot of treasures that languish in the shadows and darkness. They need only one ray of sunlight to shine in all their glory. And if the one particular ray named Agni didn’t illuminate the life of Soma, the latter would have to spend his life in the dust that comes out of under royal feet, remaining unloved, unappreciated and eventually, probably, angry at himself and all the world around him.”

Feeling the warm teardrops on his cheek, Soma opened his eyes, pulled away and carefully wiped the tears from the face of his beloved.

"Without you, I would be nothing," he concluded simply. Agni was going to counter, but, having realized what exactly he had heard, he immediately finished Soma's thought:

"But together we can become everything."

"Finally," an immediate response followed, accompanied by a satisfied smile. "And don’t ever dare to doubt it at least once."

Touched to the depths of his soul, Agni passionately embraced his prince.

“How infinitely do I love you, _mera khajaana.”_

Soma burst into happy laughter and closed his eyes, dissolving in the dazzling radiance of the two sparkling Suns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *mera khajaana - means "my treasure" in Hindi.
> 
> And so, this is how I wanted to finish this story. (If there are any objections, please feel free to express them! ^_^)
> 
> I'm sorry for not updating it for too long - I was stuck with my job and studying, so hope you'll excuse me! :)
> 
> And COUNTLESS THANKS to all of you who liked it and have been waiting for update. I've received a greatest support about which I didn't ever think. You are amazing, I love you all! <3
> 
> Hope I didn't disappoint anyone with the ending (if I did, please tell!)


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